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(X^H 


LOVE   ETERNAL 


WORKS    BY    H.    RIDER    HAGGARD 


PARLIAMENTARY  BLUE-BOOK. 
REPORT  TO  H.M.'s  GOVERNMENT  ON  THE  SALVATION 
ARMY  COLONIES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES,  WITH  SCHEME 
OF  NATIONAL  LAND  SETTLEMENT.     [Cd.  2562] 

POLITICAL  HISTORY. 
CETEWAYO  AND  HIS  WHITE  NEIGHBOURS. 


WORKS     ON    SOCIOLOGY, 
AND  COUNTRY 

RURAL  ENGLAND  (2  vols.). 
RURAL  DENMARK  AND  ITS 
LESSONS. 


AGRICULTURE, 
LIFE. 


THE  POOR  AND  THE  LAND. 

REGENERATION. 

A  FARMER'S  YEAR. 


A  GARDENER'S  YEAR. 

"  Mr.  Rider  Haggard  is  probably  most  widely  known  as  a 
novelist,  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  there  are  few  men  now  writ- 
ing English  whose  books  on  vital  sociological  questions  are  of 
such  value  as  his,  and  hardly  one  among  this  small  number 
who  has  grasped  as  he  has  grasped  the  dangers  that  beset  the 
future  of  the  English- speaking  people,  and  the  way  these  dan- 
gers can  best  be  met." — Mr,  Theodore  Roosevelt  in  "  The  Out* 
look,"  New  York,  July  /,  iqi  i. 

BOOK  OF  TRAVEL. 
A  WINTER  PILGRIMAGE. 


NOVELS. 


DAWIC. 

THE  WITCH'S  HEAD. 

JESS. 

COLONEL  QUARITCH,  V.C. 


BEATRICE. 
JOAN  HASTE. 
DOCTOR  THERNE. 
STELLA  FREGELIUS, 


THE  WAY  or  THE  SPIRIT. 
ROMANCES. 


KING  SOLOMON'S  MINES. 

SHE. 

AYESHA:  The  Return  of  She. 

ALLAN  QUATERMAIN. 

MR.  MEESON'S  WILL. 

ALLAN'S  WIFE. 

CLEOPATRA. 

ERIC  BRIGHTEVES. 

NADA  THE  LILY. 

MONTEZUMA'S  DAUGHTER. 

THE  PEOPLE  OF  THE  MIST. 

HEART  OF  THE  WORLD. 

SWALLOW. 

MARIE. 

THE    MAHATMA    AND    THE 

HARE. 
ALLAN    AND    THE     HOLY 

FLOWER. 
FINISHED. 
MOON  OF  ISRAEL. 


BLACK  HEART  AND  WHITE 

HEART. 
LYSBETH. 
PEARL-MAIDEN. 
THE  BRETHREN. 
THE    SPIRIT   OF  BAMBATSC 

(BENITA). 

MARGARET. 

THE  GHOST  KINGS. 

THE  YELLOW  GOD  :  AN  IDOL 

OF  AFRICA. 
MORNING  STAR. 
THE  LADY  oy  BLOSSHOLME. 
QUEEN  SHEBA'S  RING. 
RED  EVE. 
CHILD  OF  STORM. 
THE  WANDERER'S  NECKLACE. 
THE  IVORY  CHILD. 
LOVE  ETERNAL. 


(In  (.oKaooralion  with  Andrew  Lang) 
THE  WORLD'S  DESIRE. 


LOVE  ETERNAL 


BY 

ER  HAGGARD 

•  • 

Author  of  '  Margaret,'  '  Dawn,'  '  Morning  Star/ 
'Beatrice,'  etc.,  etc. 


SECOND  IMPRESSION 


LONGMANS,  GREEN,  AND  CO. 

FOURTH  AVENUE  &  30TH  STREET,  NEW  YORK 
1918 


Copyright,  1818,  by 
II.  RIDER  UAGGAHD 


First  Edition,  May,  1918 
Reprinted,  September,  1918 


TO 
THE  REV.  PHILIP  T.  BAINBRIGGE 

Vicar  of  St.  Thomas' 
Regent  Street,  London 

You,  whose  privilege  it  is  by  instruction  and  example  to 
strengthen  the  weak  hands  and  confirm  the  feeble  knees  of 
many,  may  perhaps  care  to  read  of  one  whose  human  love  led 
her  from  darkness  into  light  and  on  to  the  gates  of  the  Love 
Eternal. 


CONTENTS 


PACK 


I.  HONEST  JOHN i 

II.  ISOBEL  KISSES  GODFREY       .       .       .  16 

III.  THE  PLANTAGENET  LADY  35 

IV.  THE  GARDEN  IN  THE  SQUARE     .        .  50 
V.  MADAME   RIENNES        .        .        .        .  71 

VI.  EXPERIENCES 88 

VII.  MR.  KNIGHT  AND  DUTY     .        .        .  in 

VIII.  THE  PASTEUR  TAKES  THE  FIELD       .  133 

IX.  THE  PASTEUR  CONQUERS     .        .  153 

X.  GODFREY  BECOMES  A  HERO  .        .        .170 

XI.  JULIETTE'S  FAREWELL  .        .        .        .188 

XII.  HOME      .               204 

XIII.  THE  INTERVENING  YEARS  .        .        .  225 

XIV.  TOGETHER 242 

XV.  FOR  EVER 261 

XVI.  LOVE  AND  Loss 278 

XVII.  INDIA 294 

XVIII.  FRANCE — AND  AFTER  ....  308 

XIX.  MARRIAGE 326 

XX.  ORDERS 341 

XXI.  LOVE  ETERNAL 358 


LOVE  ETERNAL 

CHAPTER  I 

HONEST   JOHN 

MORE  than  thirty  years  ago  two  atoms  of  the  eternal 
Energy  sped  forth  from  the  heart  of  it  which  we  call 
God,  and  incarnated  themselves  in  the  human  shapes 
that  were  destined  to  hold  them  for  a  while,  as  vases 
hold  perfumes,  or  goblets  wine,  or  as  sparks  of  ever- 
lasting radium  inhabit  the  bowels  of  the  rock.  Per- 
haps these  two  atoms,  or  essences,  or  monads  inde- 
structible, did  but  repeat  an  adventure,  or  many,  many 
adventures.  Perhaps  again  and  again  they  had  pro- 
ceeded from  that  Home  august  and  imperishable  on 
certain  mornings  of  the  days  of  Time,  to  return  thither 
at  noon  or  nightfall,  laden  with  the  fruits  of  gained 
experience.  So  at  least  one  of  them  seemed  to  tell 
the  other  before  all  was  done  and  that  other  came 
to  believe.  If  so,  over  what  fields  did  they  roam 
throughout  the  aeons,  they  who  having  no  end,  could 
have  no  beginning?  Not  those  of  this  world  only, 
we  may  be  sure.  It  is  so  small  and  there  are  so 
many  others,  millions  upon  millions  of  them,  and  such 
an  infinite  variety  of  knowledge  is  needed  to  shape 
the  soul  of  man,  even  though  it  remain  as  yet  imper- 
fect and  but  a  shadow  of  what  it  shall  be. 


2  LOVE  ETERNAL 

Godfrey  Knight  was  born  the  first,  six  months  later 
she  followed  (her  name  was  Isobel  Blake),  as  though 
to  search  for  him,  or  because  whither  he  went,  thither 
she  must  come,  that  being  her  doom  and  his. 

Their  circumstances,  or  rather  those  of  their  par- 
ents, were  very  different  but,  as  it  chanced,  the  houses 
in  which  they  dwelt  stood  scarcely  three  hundred  yards 
apart. 

Between  the  rivers  Blackwater  and  Crouch  in  Essex, 
is  a  great  stretch  of  land,  flat  for  the  most  part  and 
rather  dreary,  which,  however,  to  judge  from  what 
they  have  left  us,  our  ancestors  thought  of  much  im- 
portance because  of  its  situation,  its  trade  and  the  corn 
it  grew.  So  it  came  about  that  they  built  great  houses 
there  and  reared  beautiful  abbeys  and  churches  for 
the  welfare  of  their  souls.  Amongst  these,  not  very 
far  from  the  coast,  is  that  of  Monk's  Acre,  still  a 
beautiful  fane  though  they  be  few  that  worship  there 
to-day.  The  old  Abbey  house  adjacent  is  now  the  rec- 
tory. It  has  been  greatly  altered,  and  the  outbuildings 
are  shut  up  or  used  as  granaries  and  so  forth  by  ar- 
rangement with  a  neighbouring  farmer.  Still  its  grey 
walls  contain  some  fine  but  rather  unfurnished  cham- 
bers, reputed  by  the  vulgar  to  be  haunted.  It  was  for 
this  reason,  so  says  tradition,  that  the  son  of  the  orig- 
inal grantee  of  Monk's  Acre  Abbey,  who  bought  it 
for  a  small  sum  from  Henry  VIII  at  the  Dissolution 
of  the  Monasteries,  turned  the  Abbey  house  into  a 
rectory  and  went  himself  to  dwell  in  another  known 
as  Hawk's  Hall,  situate  on  the  bank  of  the  little 
stream  of  that  name,  Hawk's  Creek  it  is  called,  which 
finds  its  way  to  the  Blackwater. 

Parsons,  he  said,  were  better  fitted  to  deal  with 


HONEST  JOHN  3 

ghosts  than  laymen,  especially  if  the  said  laymen  had 
dispossessed  the  originals  of  the  ghosts  of  their  earthly 
heritage. 

The  ancient  Hawk's  Hall,  a  timber  building  of  the 
sort  common  in  Essex  as  some  of  its  premises  still 
show,  has  long  since  disappeared.  About  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Victorian  era  a  fish-merchant  of  the  name 
of  Brown,  erected  on  its  site  a  commodious,  comfort- 
able, but  particularly  hideous  mansion  of  white  brick, 
where  he  dwelt  in  affluence  in  the  midst  of  the  large 
estate  that  had  once  belonged  to  the  monks.  An  at- 
tempt to  corner  herrings,  or  something  of  the  sort, 
brought  this  worthy,  or  unworthy  tradesman  to  dis- 
aster, and  the  Hall  was  leased  to  a  Harwich  smack- 
owner  of  the  name  of  Blake,  a  shrewd  person,  whose 
origin  was  humble.  He  had  one  son  named  John, 
of  whom  he  was  determined  to  "  make  a  gentleman." 
With  this  view  John  was  sent  to  a  good  public  school, 
and  to  college.  But  of  him  nothing  could  make  a  gen- 
tleman, because  true  gentility  and  his  nature  were  far 
apart.  He  remained,  notwithstanding  all  his  advan- 
tages, a  cunning,  and  in  his  way  an  able  man  of  busi- 
ness, like  his  father  before  him.  For  the  rest,  he  was 
big,  florid  and  presentable,  with  the  bluff  and  hearty 
manner  which  sometimes  distinguishes  a  faux  bon- 
homme.  "  Honest  John  "  they  called  him  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood, a  soubriquet  which  was  of  service  to  him 
in  many  ways. 

Suddenly  Honest  John's  father  died,  leaving  him 

well  off,  though  not  so  rich  as  he  would  have  liked  to 

be.     At  first  he  thought  of  leaving  Hawk's  Hall  and 

going  to  live  at  Harwich,  where  most  of  his  business 

.interests  were.    But,  remembering  that  the  occupation 


4  LOVE  ETERNAL 

of  it  gave  him  a  certain  standing  in  the  county, 
whereas  in  Harwich  he  would  have  been  only  a  supe- 
rior tradesman,  he  gave  up  the  idea.  It  was  replaced 
by  another — to  marry  well.. 

Now  John  Blake  was  not  an  idealist,  nor  in  any  sense 
romantic;  therefore, .from  marriage  he  expected  little. 
He  did  not  even  ask  that  his  wife  should  be  good- 
looking,  knowing  that  any  aspirations  which  he  had 
towards  beauty  could  be  satisfied  otherwise.  Nor  did 
he  seek  money,  being  well  aware  that  he  could  make 
this  for  himself.  What  he  desired  were  birth  and  asso- 
ciations. After  a  little  waiting  he  found  exactly  what 
he  wanted. 

A  certain  Lord  Lynfield  from  the  South  of  England, 
who  lived  in  London,  and  was  a  director  of  many 
Boards,  took  a  pheasant-shooting  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Hawk's  Hall,  and  with  it  a  house.  Here  he  lived 
more  or  less  during  the  winter  months,  going  up  to 
town  when  necessary,  to  attend  his  Boards.  Lord 
Lynfield  was  cursed  with  several  extravagant  sons, 
with  whom  John  Blake,  who  was  a  good  shot,  soon 
became  friendly.  Also  he  made  himself  useful  by 
lending  one  of  them  a  considerable  sum  of  money. 
When  this  came  to  Lord  Lynfield's  ears,  as  Honest 
John  was  careful  that  it  should,  he  was  disturbed  and 
offered  repayment,  though  as  a  matter  of  fact  he  did 
not  know  where  to  turn  for  the  cash.  In  his  bluffest 
and  heartiest  way  Blake  refused  to  hear  of  such  a 
thing. 

"  No,  no,  my  Lord,  let  it  stand.  Your  son  will 
repay  me  one  day,  and  if  he  doesn't,  what  will  a  trifle 
like  that  matter  ?  " 

"  He  certainly  shall  repay  you.     But  all  the  same, 


HONEST  JOHN  5' 

Mr.  Blake,  you  have  behaved  very  well  and  I  thank 
you  much,"  replied  his  Lordship  courteously. 

Thus  did  John  Blake  become  an  intimate  of  that 
aristocratic  family. 

Now  Lord  Lynfield,  who  was  a  widower,  had  one 
unmarried  daughter.  She  was  an  odd  and  timid  little 
person,  with  strong  religious  views,  who  adored  se- 
cretly a  high-church  curate  in  London.  This,  indeed, 
was  the  reason  why  she  had  been  brought  to  Essex 
when  her  infatuation  was  discovered  by  one  of  her 
married  sisters,  who,  like  the  rest  of  the  family,  was 
extremely  "  low."  Lady  Jane  was  small  in  body  and 
shrinking  and  delicate  in  character,  somewhat  mouse- 
like indeed.  Even  her  eyes  were  large  and  timid  as 
are  those  of  a  mouse.  In  her  John  Blake  perceived 
the  exact  parti  whom  he  desired  for  a  wife. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  follow  the  pitiful  story  to  its 
inevitable  end,  one  happily,  more  common  at  that  time 
than  it  is  to-day.  Mr.  Blake  played  the  earnest,  ardent 
lover,  and  on  all  occasions  proclaimed  his  own  un- 
worthiness  at  the  top  of  his  loud  voice.  Also  he  hinted 
at  large  settlements  to  the  married  sisters,  who  put  the 
matter  before  Jane  very  plainly  indeed.  In  the  end, 
after  a  few  words  with  her  father,  who  pointed  out 
that  the  provision  which  could  be  made  for  her  was 
but  small,  and  that  he  would  die  more  happily  if  he 
knew  her  to  be  comfortaWy  settled  in  life  with  a  really 
trustworthy  and  generous  man  such  as  Mr.  Blake  had 
proved  himself  to  be,  she  gave  way,  and  in  due  course 
they  were  married. 

In  fact,  the  tragedy  was  complete,  since  Jane  loathed 
her  husband,  whose  real  nature  she  had  read  from  the 
beginning,  as  much  as  she  adored  the  high-church 


6  LOVE  ETERNAL 

curate  from  whom  in  some  terrible  hour  she  parted 
with  broken  words.  Even  when  he  died  a  few  years 
later,  she  continued  to  adore  him,  so  much  that  her  one 
hope  was  that  she  might  meet  him  again  in  the  land 
where  there  is  no  marrying  or  giving  in  marriage. 
But  all  of  this  she  kept  locked  in  her  poor  little  heart, 
and  meanwhile  did  her  duty  by  her  husband  with  an 
untroubled  brow,  though  those  mouse-like  eyes  of  hers 
grew  ever  more  piteous. 

He,  for  his  part,  did  not  do  his  duty  by  her.  Of 
one  side  of  his  conduct  she  was  careless,  being  totally 
indifferent  as  to  whom  he  admired.  Others  she  found 
it  hard  to  bear.  The  man  was  by  nature  a  bully,  one 
who  found  pleasure  in  oppressing  the  helpless,  and 
who  loved,  in  the  privacy  of  his  home,  to  wreak  the 
ill-temper  which  he  was  forced  to  conceal  abroad.  In 
company,  and  especially  before  any  of  her  people,  he 
treated  her  with  the  greatest  deference,  and  would  even 
make  loud  laudatory  remarks  concerning  her;  when 
they  were  alone  there  was  a  different  tale  to  tell,  par- 
ticularly if  she  had  in  any  way  failed  in  promoting  that 
social  advancement  for  which  he  had  married  her. 

"  What  do  you  suppose  I  give  you  all  those  jewels 
and  fine  clothes  for,  to  say  nothing  of  the  money  you 
waste  in  keeping  up  the  house  ?  "  he  would  ask  brut- 
ally. 

Jane  made  no  answer;  silence  was  her  only  shield, 
but  her  heart  burned  within  her.  It  is  probable,  not- 
withstanding her  somewhat  exaggerated  ideas  of  duty 
and  wifely  obedience,  that  she  would  have  plucked  up 
her  courage  and  left  him,  even  if  she  must  earn  her 
own  living  as  a  sempstress,  had  it  not  been  for  one  cir- 
cumstance. That  circumstance  was  the  arrival  in  the 


HONEST  JOHN  7 

world  of  her  daughter,  Isobel.  In  some  ways  this 
event  did  not  add  to  her  happiness,  if  that  can  be  added 
to  which  does  not  exist,  for  the  reason  that  her  hus- 
band never  forgave  her  because  this  child,  her  only 
one,  was  not  a  boy.  Nor  did  he  lose  any  opportunity 
of  telling  her  this  to  her  face,  as  though  the  matter 
were  one  over  which  she  had  control.  In  others,  how- 
ever, for  the  first  time  in  her  battered  little  life,  she 
drank  deep  of  the  cup  of  joy.  She  loved  that  infant, 
and  from  the  first  it  loved  her  and  her  only,  while  to 
the  father  it  was  indifferent,  and  at  times  antagonistic. 

From  the  cradle  Isobel  showed  herself  to  be  an 
individual  of  character.  Even  as  a  little  girl  she  knew 
what  she  wanted  and  formed  her  own  opinions  quite 
independently  of  those  of  others.  Moreover,  in  a 
certain  way  she  was  a  good-looking  child,  but  of  a 
stamp  totally  different  from  that  of  either  of  her 
parents.  Her  eyes  were  not  restless  and  prominent, 
like  her  father's,  or  dark  and  plaintive,  like  her  moth- 
er's, but  large,  grey  and  steady,  with  long  curved 
lashes.  In  fact,  they  were  fine,  but  it  was  her  only 
beauty,  since  the  brow  above  them  was  almost  too 
pronounced  for  that  of  a  woman,  the  mouth  was  a 
little  large,  and  the  nose  somewhat  irregular.  Her 
hair,  too,  though  long  and  thick,  was  straight  and 
rather  light-coloured.  For  the  rest  she  was  well- 
grown  and  vigorous,  with  a  strong,  full  voice,  and  as 
she  approached  maturity  she  developed  a  fine  figure. 

When  she  was  not  much  more  than  ten  Isobel  had 
her  first  trouble  with  her  father.  Something  had  gone 
wrong  with  one  of  his  shipping  speculations,  and  as 
usual,  he  vented  it  upon  his  wife.  So  cruelly  did  he 
speak  to  her  on  a  household  matter  for  which  she  was 


8  LOVE  ETERNAL 

not  the  least  to  blame,  that  the  poor  woman  at  last  rose 
and  left  the  room  to  hide  her  tears.  Isobel,  however, 
remained  behind,  and  walking  up  to  her  father,  who 
stood  with  his  back  to  the  fire,  asked  him  why  he 
treated  her  mother  thus. 

"  Mind  your  own  business,  you  impertinent  brat," 
he  answered. 

"  Mummy  is  my  business,  and  you  are — a  brute," 
she  exclaimed,  clenching  her  little  fists.  He  lifted  his 
hand  as  though  to  strike  her,  then  changed  his  mind 
and  went  away.  She  had  conquered.  Thenceforward 
Mr.  Blake  was  careful  not  to  maltreat  his  wife  in 
Isobel's  presence.  He  complained  to  her,  however, 
of  the  child's  conduct,  which,  he  said,  was  due  to  her 
bringing  up  and  encouragement,  and  Lady  Jane  in 
turn,  scolded  her  in  her  gentle  fashion  for  her  "  wicked 
words." 

Isobel  listened,  then  asked,  without  attempting  to 
defend  herself, 

"  Were  not  father's  words  to  you  wicked  also, 
Mummy?  It  was  not  your  fault  if  James  forgot  to 
bring  round  the  dog-cart  and  made  him  miss  the  train 
to  London.  Ought  you  to  be  sworn  at  for  that  ?  " 

"  No,  dear,  but  you  see,  he  is  my  husband,  and  hus- 
bands can  say  what  they  wish  to  their  wives." 

"  Then  I  will  never  have  a  husband ;  at  least,  not 
one  like  father,"  Isobel  announced  with  decision. 

There  the  matter  ended.  Or  rather  it  did  not  end, 
since  from  that  moment  Isobel  began  to  reflect  much  on 
matrimony  and  other  civilized  institutions,  as  to  which 
at  last  she  formed  views  that  were  not  common  among 
girls  of  her  generation.  In  short,  she  took  the  first 
step  towards  Radicalism,  and  entered  on  the  road  of 


HONEST  JOHN  9 

rebellion   against    the    Existing   and    Acknowledged. 

During  the  governess  era  which  followed  this  scene 
Isobel  travelled  far  and  fast  along  that  road.  The 
lady,  or  rather  the  ladies,  hired  by  her  father,  for  his 
wife  was  allowed  no  voice  in  their  selection,  were  of 
the  order  known  as  "  determined  " ;  disciplinarians  of 
the  first  water.  For  one  reason  or  another  they  did 
not  stay.  Isobel,  though  a  quick  and  able  child,  very 
fond  of  reading  moreover,  proved  unamenable  under 
discipline  as  understood  by  those  formidable  females, 
and  owing  to  her  possession  of  a  curious  tenacity  of 
purpose,  ended  by  wearing  them  down.  Also  they 
did  not  care  for  the  atmosphere  of  the  house,  which 
was  depressing. 

One  of  them  once  tried  to  strike  Isobel.  This  was 
when  she  was  nearly  thirteen.  Isobel  replied  with  the 
schoolroom  inkpot.  She  was  an  adept  at  stone-throw- 
ing, and  other  athletic  arts.  It  caught  her  instructress 
fair  upon  her  gentle  bosom,  spoiled  her  dress,  filled 
her  mouth  and  eyes  with  ink,  and  nearly  knocked  her 
down. 

"  I  shall  tell  your  father  to  flog  you,"  gasped  the 
lady  when  she  recovered  her  breath. 

"  I  should  advise  you  not,"  said  Isobel.  "  And  what 
is  more,"  she  added  after  reflection,  "  if  you  do  I  shall 
advise  him  not  to  listen  to  you." 

Then  the  governess  thought  better  of  it  and  gave 
notice  instead.  To  be  just  to  John  Blake  he  never 
attempted  to  resort  to  violence  against  his  daughter. 
This  may  have  been  because  he  knew  by  instinct  that 
it  would  not  be  safe  to  do  so  or  tend  to  his  own  com- 
fort. Or  perhaps,  it  was  for  the  reason  that  in  his 
way  he  was  fond  of  her,  looking  on  her  with  pride 


io  LOVE  ETERNAL 

not  quite  untouched  by  fear.  Like  all  bullies  he  was  a 
coward  at  heart,  and  respected  anyone  who  dared  to 
stand  up  to  him  even  although  she  were  but  a  girl, 
and  his  own  daughter. 

After  the  victim  of  the  inkpot  incident  departed, 
threatening  actions  at  law  and  proclaiming  that  her 
pupil  would  come  to  a  bad  end,  questions  arose  as  to 
Isobel's  future  education.  Evidently  the  governess 
experiment  had  broken  down  and  was  not  worth  re- 
peating. Although  she  trembled  at  the  idea  of  parting 
with  her  only  joy  and  consolation  in  life,  Lady  Jane 
suggested  that  she  should  be  sent  to  school.  It  was 
fortunate  for  her  that  she  did  so,  since  as  the  idea 
came  from  his  wife,  Mr.  Blake  negatived  it  at  once 
firmly  and  finally,  a  decision  which  she  accepted  with 
an  outward  sigh  of  resignation,  having  learned  the 
necessity  of  guile,  and  inward  delight.  Indeed,  for  it 
that  evening  she  thanked  God  upon  her  knees. 

It  may  be  also  that  her  father  did  not  wish  that 
Isobel  should  go  away.  Lady  Jane  bored  him  to  dis- 
traction, since  kicking  a  cushion  soon  becomes  poor 
sport.  So  much  did  she  bore  him  indeed  that  for  this 
and  other  reasons  he  passed  most  of  his  time  in 
London  or  at  Harwich,  in  both  of  which  places  he 
had  offices  where  he  transacted  his  shipping  business, 
only  spending  the  week-ends  at  Hawk's  Hall.  It  was 
his  custom  to  bring  with  him  parties  of  friends,  busi- 
ness men  as  a  rule,  to  whom,  for  sundry  purposes,  he 
wished  to  appear  in  the  character  of  a  family  man 
and  local  magnate.  Isobel,  who  was  quick  and  viva- 
cious even  while  she  was  still  a  child,  helped  to  make 
these  parties  pass  off  well,  whereas  without  her  he 
felt  that  they  would  have  been  a  failure.  Also  she 


HONEST  JOHN  IT 

was  useful  during  the  shooting  season.  So  it  came 
about  that  she  was  kept  at  home. 

It  was  at  this  juncture  that  an  idea  came  to  Mr. 
Blake.  A  few  years  before,  at  the  very  depth  of  the 
terrible  agricultural  depression  of  the  period,  he  had 
purchased  at  a  forced  sale  by  the  mortgagees,  the 
entire  Monk's  Acre  estate,  at  about  £12  the  acre, 
which  was,  less  than  the  cost  of  the  buildings  that 
stood  upon  the  land.  This,  as  he  explained  to  all  and 
sundry,  he  had  done  at  great  personal  loss  in  the  inter- 
est of  the  tenants  and  labourers,  but  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  even  at  the  existing  rents,  the  investment  paid 
him  a  fair  rate  of  interest,  and  was  one  which,  as  a 
business  man  he  knew  must  increase  in  value  when 
times  changed.  With  the  property  went  the  advowson 
of  Monk's  Acre,  and  it  chanced  that  a  year  later  the 
living  fell  vacant  through  the  resignation  of  the  in- 
cumbent. Mr.  Blake,  now  as  always  seeking  popu- 
larity, consulted  the  bishop,  consulted  the  church- 
wardens, consulted  the  parishioners,  and  in  the  end 
consulted  his  own  interests  by  nominating  the  nephew 
of  a  wealthy  baronet  of  his  acquaintance  whom  he 
was  anxious  to  secure  as  a  director  upon  the  Board 
of  a  certain  company  in  which  he  had  large  holdings. 

"  I  have  never  seen  this  clerical  gentleman  and  know 
nothing  of  his  views,  or  anything  about  him.  But  if 
you  recom'mend  him,  my  dear  Sir  Samuel,  it  is  enough 
for  me,  since  I  always  judge  of  a  man  by  his  friends. 
Perhaps  you  will  furnish  me,  or  rather  my  lawyers, 
with  the  necessary  particulars,  and  I  will  see  that  the 
matter  is  put  through.  Now,  to  come  to  .more  impor- 
tant business,  as  to  this  Board  of  which  I  am  chair- 
man," &c. 


12  LOVE  ETERNAL 

The  end  of  it  was  that  Sir  Samuel,  flattered  by  such 
deference,  became  a  member  of  the  Board  and  Sir 
Samuel's  nephew  became  rector  of  Monk's  Acre. 

Such  appointments,  like  marriages,  are  made  in 
Heaven — at  least  that  seems  to  be  the  doctrine  of  the 
English  Church,  which  is  content  to  act  thereon.  In 
this  particular  instance  the  results  were  quite  good. 
The  Rev.  Mr.  Knight,  the  nephew  of  the  opulent  Sir 
Samuel,  proved  to  be  an  excellent  and  hard-working 
clergyman.  He  was  low-church,  and  narrow  almost 
to  the  point  of  Calvinism,  but  intensely  earnest  and 
conscientious;  one  who  looked  upon  the  world  as  a 
place  of  sin  and  woe  through  which  we  must  labour 
and  pass  on,  a  difficult  path  beset  with  rocks  and 
thorns,  leading  to  the  unmeasured  plains  of  Heaven. 
Also  he  was  an  educated  man  who  had  taken  high 
degrees  at  college,  and  really  learned  in  his  way. 
While  he  was  a  curate,  working  very  hard  in  a  great 
seaport  town,  he  had  married  the  daughter  of  another 
clergyman  of  the  same  city,  who  died  in  a  sudden 
fashion  as  the  result  of  an  accident,  leaving  the  girl  an 
orphan.  She  was  not  pure  English  as  her  mother  had 
been  a  Dane,  but  on  both  sides  her  descent  was  high, 
as  indeed  was  that  of  Mr.  Knight  himself. 

This  union,  contracted  on  the  husband's  par,,  largely 
from  motives  that  might  be  called  charitable,  since 
he  had  promised  his  deceased  colleague  on  '-AS  death 
bed  to  befriend  the  daughter,  was  but  moderately  suc- 
cessful. The  wife  had  the  characteristics  of  her  race; 
largeness  and  liberality  of  view,  high  aspirations  for 
humanity,  considerable  intelligence,  and  a  certain  tend- 
ency towards  mysticism  of  the  Swedenborgian  type, 
qualities  that  her  husband  neither  shared  nor  could 


HONEST  JOHN  13 

appreciate.  It  was  perhaps  as  well,  therefore  that  she 
died  at  the  birth  of  her  only  son,  Godfrey,  three 
years  after  her  marriage. 

Mr.  Knight  never  married  again.  Matrimony  was 
not  a  state  which  appealed  to  his  somewhat  shrunken 
nature.  Although  he  admitted  its  necessity  to  the 
human  race,  of  it  in  his  heart  he  did  not  approve,  nor 
would  he  ever  have  undertaken  it  at  all  had  it  not 
been  for  a  sense  of  obligation.  This  attitude,  because 
it  made  for  virtue  as  he  understood  it,  he  set  down 
to  virtue,  as  we  are  all  apt  to  do,  a  sacrifice  of  the 
things  of  earth  and  of  the  flesh  to  the  things  of  heaven, 
and  of  the  spirit.  In  fact,  it  was  nothing  of  the  sort, 
but  only  the  outcome  of  individual  physical  and  men- 
tal conditions.  Towards  female  society,  however  hal- 
lowed and  approved  its  form,  he  had  no  leanings. 
Also  the  child  was  a  difficulty,  so  great  indeed  that  at 
times  almost  he  regretted  that  a  wise  Providence  had 
not  thought  fit  to  take  it  straight  to  the  joys  of  heaven 
with  its  mother,  though  afterwards,  as  the  boy's  intelli- 
gence unfolded,  he  developed  interest  in  him.  This, 
however,  he  was  careful  to  keep  in  check,  lest  he  should 
fall  into  the  sin  of  inordinate  affection,  denounced  by 
St.  Paul  in  common  with  other  errors. 

Finally,  he  found  an  elderly  widow,  named  Parsons, 
who  acted  as  his  housekeeper,  and  took  charge  of  his 
son.  Fortunately  for  Godfrey  her  sense  of  parenthood 
was  more  pronounced  than  that  of  his  father,  and  she, 
who  had  lost  two  children  of  her  own,  played  the  part 
of  mother  to  him  with  a  warm  and  loyal  heart.  From 
the  first  she  loved  him,  and  he  loved  her;  it  was  an 
affection  that  continued  throughout  their  lives. 

When  Godfrey  was  about  nine  his  father's  health 


14  LOVE  ETERNAL 

broke  down.  He  was  still  a  curate  in  his  seaport  town, 
for  good,  as  goodness  is  understood,  and  hard-working 
though  he  was,  no  promotion  had  come  his  way. 
Perhaps  this  was  because  the  bishop  and  his  other 
superiors,  recognising  his  lack  of  sympathy  and  his 
narrowness  of  outlook,  did  not  think  him  a  suitable 
man  to  put  in  charge  of  a  parish.  At  any  rate,  so  it 
happened. 

Thus  arose  his  appeal  to  his  wealthy  and  powerful 
relative,  Sir  Samuel,  and  his  final  nomination  to  a 
country  benefice,  for  in  the  country  the  doctor  said 
that  he  must  live — unless  he  wished  to  die.  Convinced 
though  he  was  of  the  enormous  advantages  of  Heaven 
over  an  earth  which  he  knew  to  be  extremely  sinful, 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Knight,  like  the  rest  of  the  world,  shrank 
from  the  second  alternative,  which,  as  he  stated  in  a 
letter  of  thanks  to  Sir  Samuel,  however  much  it  might 
benefit  him  personally,  would  cut  short  his  period  of 
terrestrial  usefulness  to  others.  So  he  accepted  the 
rectorship  of  Monk's  Acre  with  gratitude. 

In  one  way  there  was  not  much  for  which  to  be 
grateful,  seeing  that  in  those  days  of  depreciated  tithes 
the  living  was  not  worth  more  than  £250  a  year  and 
his  own  resources,  which  came  from  his  wife's  small 
fortune,  were  very  limited.  It  should  have  been  valu- 
able, but  the  great  tithes  were  alienated  with  the  landed 
property  of  the  Abbey  by  Henry  VIII,  and  now  be- 
longed to  the  lay  rector,  Mr.  Blake,  who  showed  no 
signs  of  using  them  to  increase  the  incumbent's  stipend. 

Still  there  was  a  good  house  with  an  excellent  gar- 
den, too  good  indeed,  with  its  beautiful  and  ancient 
rooms  which  a  former  rector  of  archaeological  knowl- 
edge and  means  had  in  part  restored  to  their  pristine 


HONEST  JOHN  15 

state,  while  for  the  rest  his  tastes  were  simple  and  his 
needs  few,  for,  of  course,  he  neither  drank  wine  nor 
smoked.  Therefore,  as  has  been  said,  he  took  the 
living  with  thankfulness  and  determined  to  make  the 
best  of  it  on  a  total  income  of  about  £350  a  year. 


CHAPTER  II 

ISOBEL   KISSES   GODFREY 

ON  the  whole  Monk's  Acre  suited  Mr.  Knight  fairly 
well.  It  is  true  that  he  did  not  like  the  Abbey,  as  it 
was  still  called,  of  which  the  associations  and  archi- 
tectural beauty  made  no  appeal  to  him,  and  thought 
often  with  affection  of  the  lodging-house-like  abode 
in  which  he  had  dwelt  in  his  southern  seaport  town 
amid  the  Victorian  surroundings  that  were  suited  to 
his  Victorian  nature.  The  glorious  church,  too,  irri- 
tated him,  partly  because  it  was  so  glorious,  and  not- 
withstanding all  that  the  Reformation  had  done  to 
mar  it,  so  suggestive  of  papistical  practice  and  errors, 
and  partly  because  the  congregation  was  so  scanty  in 
that  great  expanse  of  nave  and  aisle,  to  say  nothing  of 
the  chancel  and  sundry  chapels,  that  they  looked  like 
a  few  wandering  sheep  left  by  themselves  in  a  vast 
and  almost  emptied  fold.  Nor  was  this  strange,  see- 
ing that  the  total  population  of  the  parish  was  but 
one  hundred  and  forty-seven  souls. 

Of  his  squire  and  patron  he  saw  but  little.  Occa- 
sionally Mr.  Blake  attended  church  and  as  lay-rector 
was  accommodated  in  an  ugly  oak  box  in  the  chancel, 
where  his  big  body  and  florid  countenance  reminded 
Godfrey  of  Farmer  Johnson's  prize  polled  ox  in  its 
stall.  These  state  visits  were  not  however  very  fre- 
quent and  depended  largely  upon  the  guests  who  were 
staying  for  the  week-end  at  the  Hall.  If  Mr.  Blake 

16 


ISOBEL  KISSES  GODFREY  17 

discovered  that  these  gentlemen  were  religiously  in- 
clined, he  went  to  church.  If  otherwise,  and  this  was 
more  common,  acting  on  his  principle  of  being  all 
things  to  all  men,  he  stopped  away. 

Personally  he  did  not  bother  his  head  about  the 
matter  which,  in  secret,  he  looked  upon  as  one  of  the 
ramifications  of  the  great  edifice  of  British  cant.  The 
vast  majority  of  people  in  his  view  went  to  church,  not 
because  they  believed  in  anything  or  wished  for  in- 
struction or  spiritual  consolations,  but  because  it  looked 
respectable,  which  was  exactly  why  he  did  so  himself. 
Even  then  nearly  always  he  sat  alone  in  the  oak  box, 
his  visitors  generally  preferring  to  occupy  the  pew  in 
the  nave  which  was  frequented  by  Lady  Jane  and 
Isobel. 

Nor  did  the  two  often  meet  socially  since  their  na- 
tures were  antipathetic.  In  the  bosom  of  his  family 
Mr.  Blake  would  refer  to  Mr.  Knight  as  the  "  little 
parson  rat,"  while  in  his  own  bosom  Mr.  Knight  would 
think  of  Mr.  Blake  as  "  that  bull  of  Bashan."  Further, 
after  some  troubles  had  arisen  about  a  question  of  tithe, 
also  about  the  upkeep  of  the  chancel,  Blake  discovered 
that  beneath  his  meek  exterior  the  clergyman  had  a 
strong  will  and  very  clear  ideas  of  the  difference  be- 
tween right  and  wrong,  in  short,  that  he  was  not  a  man 
to  be  trifled  with,  and  less  still  one  of  whom  he  could 
make  a  tool.  Having  ascertained  these  things  he  left 
him  alone  as  much  as  possible. 

Mr.  Knight  very  soon  became  aware  first  that  his 
income  was  insufficient  to  his  needs,  and  secondly, 
especially  now  when  his  health  was  much  improved, 
that  after  a  busy  and  hard-working  life,  time  at 
Monk's  Acre  hung  heavily  upon  his  hands.  The  latter 


i8  LOVE  ETERNAL 

trouble  to  some  extent  he  palliated  by  beginning  the 
great  work  that  he  had  planned  ever  since  he  became 
a  deacon,  for  which  his  undoubted  scholarship  gave 
him  certain  qualifications.  Its  provisional  title  was, 
"  Babylon  Unveiled  "  (he  would  have  liked  to  substi- 
tute "The  Scarlet  Woman"  for  Babylon)  and  its 
apparent  object  an  elaborate  attack  upon  the  Roman 
Church,  which  in  fact  was  but  a  cover  for  the 
real  onslaught.  With  the  Romans,  although  perhaps 
he  did  not  know  it  himself,  he  had  certain  sympathies, 
for  instance,  in  the  matter  of  celibacy.  Nor  did  he 
entirely  disapprove  of  the  monastic  orders.  Then  he 
found  nothing  shocking  in  the  tenets  and  methods  of 
the  Jesuits  working  for  what  they  conceived  to  be  a 
good  end.  The  real  targets  of  his  animosity  were  his 
high-church  brethren  of  the  Church  of  England, 
wretches  who,  whilst  retaining  all  the  privileges  of  the 
Anglican  Establishment,  such  as  marriage,  did  not 
hestitate  to  adopt  almost  every  error  of  Rome  and 
to  make  use  of  her  secret  power  over  the  souls  of  men 
by  the  practice  of  Confession  and  otherwise. 

As  this  monumental  treatise  began  in  the  times  of 
the  Early  Fathers  and  was  planned  to  fill  ten  volumes 
of  at  least  a  hundred  thousand  words  apiece,  no  one 
will  be  surprised  to  learn  that  it  never  reached  the 
stage  of  publication,  or  indeed,  to  be  accurate,  that 
it  came  to  a  final  stop  somewhere  about  the  time  of 
Athanasius. 

Realizing  that  the  work  was  likely  to  equal  that  of 
Gibbon  both  in  length  and  the  years  necessary  to  its 
completion;  also  that  from  it  could  be  expected  no 
immediate  pecuniary  profits,  Mr.  Knight  looked  round 
to  find  some  other  way  of  occupying  his  leisure,  and 


ISOBEL  KISSES  GODFREY  19 

adding  to  his  income.  Although  a  reserved  person, 
on  a  certain  Sunday  when  he  went  to  lunch  at  the  Hall, 
in  the  absence  of  Mr.  Blake  who  was  spending  the 
week-end  somewhere  else,  he  confided  his  difficulties 
to  Lady  Jane  whom  he  felt  to  be  sympathetic. 

"  The  house  is  so  big,"  he  complained.  "  Mrs. 
Parsons  "  (Godfrey's  old  nurse  and  his  housekeeper) 
"  and  one  girl  cannot  even  keep  it  clean.  It  was  most 
foolish  of  my  predecessor  in  the  living  to  restore  that 
old  refectory  and  all  the  southern  dormitories  upon 
which  I  am  told  he  spent  no  less  than  £1,500  of  his 
own  money,  never  reflecting  on  the  expense  which  his 
successors  must  incur  merely  to  keep  them  in  order, 
since  being  once  there  they  become  liable  for  charges 
for  dilapidations.  It  would  have  been  better,  after 
permission  obtained,  to  let  them  go  to  ruin." 

"  No  doubt,  but  they  are  very  beautiful,  are  they 
not  ? "  remarked  Lady  Jane  feebly. 

"  Beauty  is  a  luxury  and,  I  may  add,  a  snare.  It  is 
a  mistaken  love  of  beauty  and  pomp,  baits  that  the 
Evil  One  well  knows  how  to  use,  which  have  led  so 
large  a  section  of  our  Church  astray,"  he  replied  sip- 
ping at  his  tumbler  of  water. 

A  silence  followed,  for  Lady  Jane,  who  from  early 
and  tender  associations  loved  high-church  practices, 
did  not  know  what  to  answer.  It  was  broken  by  Isobel 
who  had  been  listening  to  the  conversation  in  her 
acute  way,  and  now  said  in  her  clear,  strong  voice : 

"  Why  don't  you  keep  a  school,  Mr.  Knight  ? 
There's  lots  of  room  for  it  in  the  Abbey." 

"  A  school !  "  he  said.  "  A  school !  I  never  thought 
of  that.  No,  it  is  ridiculous.  Still,  pupils  perhaps. 
Out  of  the  mouth  of  babes  and  sucklings,  &c.  Well,  it 


20  LOVE  ETERNAL 

is  time  for  me  to  be  going.  I  will  think  the  matter 
over  after  church." 

Mr.  Knight  did  think  the  matter  over  and  after 
consultation  with  his  housekeeper,  Mrs.  Parsons,  an 
advertisement  appeared  in  The  Times  and  The  Spec- 
tator inviting  parents  and  guardians  to  entrust  two  or 
three  lads  to  the  advertiser's  care  to  receive  prelimi- 
nary education,  together  with  his  own  son.  It  proved 
fruitful,  and  after  an  exchange  of  the  "  highest  ref- 
erences," two  little  boys  appeared  at  Monk's  Acre, 
both  of  them  rather  delicate  in  health.  This  was 
shortly  before  the  crisis  arose  as  to  the  future 
teaching  of  Isobel,  when  the  last  governess,  wishing 
her  "a  better  spirit,"  had  bidden  her  a  frigid  fare- 
well and  shaken  the  dust  of  Hawk's  Hall  off  her 
feet. 

One  day  Isobel  was  sent  with  a  note  to  the  Abbey 
House.  She  rang  the  bell  but  no  one  came,  for  Mr. 
Knight  was  out  walking  with  his  pupils  and  Mrs. 
Parsons  and  the  parlour-maid  were  elsewhere.  Tired 
of  waiting,  she  wandered  round  the  grey  old  building 
in  the  hope  of  finding  someone  to  whom  she  could 
deliver  the  letter,  and  came  to  the  refectory  which 
had  a  separate  entrance.  The  door  was  open  and 
she  peeped  in.  At  first,  after  the  brilliant  sunlight 
without,  she  saw  nothing  except  the  great  emptiness 
of  the  place  with  its  splendid  oak  roof  on  the  repair 
of  which  the  late  incumbent  had  spent  so  much, 
since  as  is  common  in  monkish  buildings,  the  windows 
were  high  and  narrow.  Presently,  however,  she  per- 
ceived a  little  figure  seated  in  the  shadow  at  the  end 
of  the  long  oaken  refectory  table,  that  at  which  the 
monks  had  eaten,  which  still  remained  where  it  had 


ISOBEL  KISSES  GODFREY  21 

stood  for  hundreds  of  years,  one  of  the  fixtures  of 
the  house,  and  knew  it  for  that  of  Godfrey,  Mr. 
Knight's  son.  Gliding  towards  him  quietly  she  saw 
that  he  was  asleep  and  stopped  to  study  him. 

He  was  a  beautiful  boy,  pale  just  now  for  he  had 
recovered  but  recently  from  some  childish  illness.  His 
hair  was  dark  and  curling,  dark,  too,  were  his  eyes, 
though  these  she  could  not  see,  and  the  lashes  over 
them,  while  his  hands  were  long  and  fine.  He  looked 
most  lonely  and  pathetic,  there  in  the  big  oak  chair 
that  had  so  often  accommodated  the  portly  forms  of 
departed  abbots,  and  her  warm  heart  went  out  towards 
him.  Of  course  Isobel  knew  him,  but  not  very  well, 
for  he  was  a  shy  lad  and  her  father  had  never  encour- 
aged intimacy  between  the  Abbey  House  and  the 
Hall. 

Somehow  she  had  the  idea  that  he  was  unhappy, 
for  indeed  he  looked  so  even  in  his  sleep,  though  per- 
haps this  was  to  be  accounted  for  by  a  paper  of  unfin- 
ished sums  before  him.  Sympathy  welled  up  in  Isobel, 
who  remembered  the  oppressions  of  the  last  governess 
— her  of  the  inkpot.  Sympathy,  yes,  and  more  than 
sympathy,  for  of  a  sudden  she  felt  as  she  had  never 
felt  before.  She  loved  the  little  lad  as  though  he  were 
her  brother.  A  strange  affinity  for  him  came  home 
to  her,  although  she  did  not  define  it  thus;  it  was  as  if 
she  knew  that  her  spirit  was  intimate  with  his,  yes,  and 
always  had  been  and  always  would  be  intimate. 

This  subtle  knowledge  went  through  Isobel  like  fire 
and  shook  her.  She  turned  pale,  her  nostrils  expanded, 
her  large  eyes  opened  and  she  sighed.  She  did  more 
indeed.  Drawn  by  some  over-mastering  impulse  she 
drew  near  to  Godfrey  and  kissed  him  gently  on  the 


22  LOVE  ETERNAL 

forehead,  then  glided  back  again  frightened  and 
ashamed  at  her  own  act. 

Now  he  woke  up;  she  felt  his  dark  eyes  looking  at 
her.  Then  he  spoke  in  a  slow,  puzzled  voice,  saying: 

"  I  have  had  such  a  funny  dream.  I  dreamed  that 
a  spirit  came  and  kissed  me.  I  did  not  see  it,  but  I 
think  it  must  have  been  my  mother's." 

"Why?"  asked  Isobel.  ' 

"  Because  no  one  else  ever  cared  enough  for  me  to 
kiss  me,  except  Mrs.  Parsons,  and  she  has  given  it  up 
now  that  the  other  boys  are  here." 

"  Does  not  your  father  kiss  you  ?  "  she  asked. 

"  Yes,  once  a  week,  on  Sunday  evening  when  I  go 
to  bed.  But  I  don't  count  that." 

"  No,  I  understand,"  said  Isobel,  thinking  of  her 
own  father,  then  added  hastily,  "  it  must  be  sad  not  to 
have  a  mother." 

"  It  is,"  he  answered,  "  especially  when  one  is  ill 
as  I  have  been,  and  must  lie  so  long  alone  in  bed  with 
'pains  in  the  head.  You  know  I  had  an  abscess  in  the 
ear  and  it  hurt  very  much." 

"  I  didn't  know.  We  heard  you  were  ill  and  mother 
wanted  to  come  to  see  you.  Father  wouldn't  let  her. 
He  thought  it  might  be  measles  and  he  is  afraid  of 
catching  things." 

"  Yes,"  replied  Godfrey  without  surprise.  "  It 
wasn't  measles,  but  if  it  had  been  you  might  have 
caught  them,  so  of  course  he  was  right  to  be  careful." 

"  Oh !  he  wasn't  thinking  of  me  or  Mummy,  he  was 
thinking  of  himself,"  blurted  out  Isobel  with  the 
candour  of  youth. 

"  Big,  strong  men  don't  catch  measles,"  said  God- 
frey in  mild  astonishment. 


ISOBEL  KISSES  GODFREY  23 

"  He  says  they  do,  and  that  they  are  very  danger- 
ous when  you  are  grown  up.  Why  are  you  alone 
here,  and  what  are  you  working  at  ?  " 

"  My  father  has  kept  me  in  as  a  punishment  because 
I  did  my  sums  wrong.  The  other  boys  have  gone  out 
bird-nesting,  but  I  have  to  stop  here  until  I  get  them 
right.  I  don't  know  when  that  will  be,"  he  added 
with  a  sigh,  "  as  I  hate  rule  of  three  and  can't  do  it." 

"  Rule  of  three,"  said  Isobel,  "  I'm  quite  good  at  it. 
You  see  I  like  figures.  My  father  says  it  is  the  family 
business  instinct.  Here,  let  me  try.  Move  to  the 
other  side  of  that  big  chair,  there's  plenty  of  room  for 
two,  and  show  it  to  me." 

He  obeyed  with  alacrity  and  soon  the  brown  head 
and  the  fair  one  were  bent  together  over  the  scrawled 
sheet.  Isobel,  who  had  really  a  budding  talent  for 
mathematics,  worked  out  the  sum,  or  rather  the  sums, 
without  difficulty  and  then,  with  guile  acquired  under 
the  governess  regime,  made  him  copy  them  and  de- 
stroyed all  traces  of  her  own  handiwork. 

"  Are  you  as  stupid  at  everything  as  you  are  at 
sums  ?  "  she  asked  when  he  had  finished,  rising  from 
the  chair  and  seating  herself  on  the  edge  of  the 
table. 

"  What  a  rude  thing  to  ask !  Of  course  not,"  he 
replied  indignantly.  "  I  am  very  good  at  Latin  and 
history,  which  I  like.  But  you  see  father  doesn't  care 
much  for  them.  He  was  a  Wrangler,  you  know." 

"A  Wrangler!  How  dreadful.  I  suppose  that  is 
why  he  argues  so  much  in  his  sermons.  I  hate  history. 
It's  full  of  dates  and  the  names  of  kings  who  were  all 
bad.  I  can't  make  out  why  people  put  up  with  kings," 
she  added  reflectively. 


24  LOVE  ETERNAL 

"  Because  they  ought  to,  '  God  bless  our  gracious 
Queen,'  you  know." 

"  Well,  God  may  bless  her  but  I  don't  see  why  I 
should  as  she  never  did  anything  for  me,  though 
Father  does  hope  she  will  make  him  something  one 
day.  I'd  like  to  be  a  Republican  with  a  President  as 
they  have  in  America." 

"You  must  be  what  father  calls  a  wicked  Radical," 
said  Godfrey  staring  at  her,  "  one  of  those  people  who 
want  to  disestablish  the  Church." 

"  I  daresay,"  she  replied,  nodding  her  head.  "  That 
is  if  you  mean  making  clergymen  work  like  other  peo- 
ple, instead  of  spying  and  gossiping  and  playing  games 
as  they  do  about  here." 

Godfrey  did  not  pursue  the  argument,  but  remarked 
immorally : 

"  It's  a  pity  you  don't  come  to  our  class,  for  then  I 
could  do  your  history  papers  and  you  could  do  my 
sums." 

She  started,  but  all  she  said  was : 

"  This  would  be  a  good  place  to  learn  history.  Now 
I  must  be  going.  Don't  forget  to  give  the  note.  I 
shall  have  to  say  that  I  waited  a  long  while  before  I 
found  anyone.  Goodbye,  Godfrey." 

"  Goodbye,  Isobel,"  he  answered,  but  she  was  gone. 

"  I  hope  he  did  dream  that  it  was  his  mother  who 
kissed  him,"  Isobel  reflected  to  herself,  for  now  the 
full  enormity  of  her  performance  came  home  to  her. 
Young  as  she  was,  a  mere  child  with  no  knowledge  of 
the  great  animating  forces  of  life  and  of  the  mysteries 
behind  them,  she  wondered  why  she  had  done  this 
thing;  what  it  was  that  forced  her  to  do  it.  For  she 
knew  well  that  something  had  forced  her,  something 


ISOBEL  KISSES  GODFREY  25 

outside  of  herself,  as  she  understood  herself.  It  was 
as  though  another  entity  that  was  in  her  and  yet  not 
herself  had  taken  possession  of  her  and  made  her  act 
as  uninfluenced,  she  never  would  have  acted.  Thus 
she  pondered  in  her  calm  fashion,  then,  being  able  to 
make  nothing  of  the  business,  shrugged  her  shoulders 
and  let  it  go  by.  After  all  it  mattered  nothing  since 
Godfrey  had  dreamed  that  the  ghost  of  his  mother 
had  visited  him  and  would  not  suspect  her  of  being 
that  ghost,  and  she  was  certain  that  never  would  she 
do  such  a  thing  again.  The  trouble  was  that  she  had 
done  it  once  and  that  the  deed  signified  some  change  in 
her  which  her  childish  mind  could  not  understand. 

On  reaching  the  Hall,  or  rather  shortly  afterwards, 
she  saw  her  father  who  was  waiting  for  the  carriage 
in  which  to  go  to  the  station  to  meet  some  particularly 
important  week-end  guest.  He  asked  if  she  had 
brought  any  answer  to  his  note  to  Mr.  Knight,  and 
she  told  him  that  she  had  left  it  in  the  schoolroom,  as 
she  called  the  refectory,  because  he  was  out. 

"  I  hope  he  will  get  it,"  grumbled  Mr.  Blake.  "  One 
of  my  friends  who  is  coming  down  to-night  thinks  he 
understands  architecture  and  I  want  the  parson  to 
show  him  over  the  Abbey  House.  Indeed  that's  why 
he  has  come,  for  you  see  he  is  an  American  who 
thinks  a  lot  of  such  old  things." 

"Well,  it  is  beautiful,  isn't  it,  Father?"  she  said. 
"  Even  I  felt  that  it  would  be  easy  to  learn  in  that  big 
old  room  with  a  roof  like  that  of  a  church." 

An  idea  struck  him. 

"  Would  you  like  to  go  to  school  there,  Isobel?  " 

"  I  think  so,  Father,  as  I  must  go  to  school  some- 
where and  I  hate  those  horrible  governesses." 


26  LOVE  ETERNAL 

"  Well,"  he  replied,  "  you  couldn't  throw  inkpots  at 
the  holy  Knight,  as  you  did  at  Miss  Hook.  Lord! 
what  a  rage  she  was  in,"  he  added  with  a  chuckle.  "  I 
had  to  pay  her  £5  for  a  new  dress.  But  it  was  better  to 
do  that  than  to  risk  a  County  Court  action." 

Then  the  carriage  came  and  he  departed. 

The  upshot  of  it  all  was  that  Isobel  became  another 
of  Mr.  Knight's  pupils.  When  Mr.  Blake  suggested 
the  arrangement  to  his  wife,  she  raised  certain  objec- 
tions, among  them  that  associating  with  these  little 
lads  might  make  a  tomboy  of  the  girl,  adding  that 
she  had  been  taught  with  children  of  her  own  sex. 
He  retorted  in  his  rough  marital  fashion,  that  if  it 
made  something  different  of  Isobel  to  what  she,  the 
mother,  was,  he  would  be  glad.  Indeed,  as  usual, 
Lady  Jane's  opposition  settled  the  matter. 

Now  for  the  next  few  years  of  Isobel's  life  there  is 
little  to  be  told.  Mr.  Knight  was  an  able  man  and  a 
good  teacher,  and  being  a  clever  girl  she  learned  a 
great  deal  from  him,  especially  in  the  way  of  mathe- 
matics, for  which,  as  has  been  said,  she  had  a  natural 
leaning. 

Indeed  very  soon  she  outstripped  Godfrey  and  the 
other  lads  in  this  and  sundry  other  branches  of  study, 
sitting  at  a  table  by  herself  on  what  once  had  been  the 
dais  of  the  old  hall.  In  the  intervals  of  lessons,  how- 
ever, it  was  their  custom  to  take  walks  together  and 
then  it  was  that  she  always  found  herself  at  the  side 
of  Godfrey.  Indeed  they  became  inseparable,  at  any 
rate  in  mind.  A  strange  and  most  uncommon  intimacy 
existed  between  these  young  creatures,  almost  might 


ISOBEL  KISSES  GODFREY  27 

it  have  been  called  a  friendship  of  the  spirit.  Yet,  and 
this  was  the  curious  part  of  it,  they  were  dissimilar 
in  almost  everything  that  goes  to  make  up  a  human 
being.  Even  in  childhood  there  was  scarcely  a  sub- 
ject on  which  they  thought  alike,  scarcely  a  point  upon 
which  they  would  not  argue. 

Godfrey  was  fond  of  poetry;  it  bored  Isobel.  His 
tendencies  were  towards  religion  though  of  a  very 
different  type  from  that  preached  and  practised  by 
his  father ;  hers  were  anti-religious.  In  fact  she  would 
have  been  inclined  to  endorse  the  saying  of  that  other 
schoolgirl  who  defined  faith  as  "  the  art  of  believing 
those  things  which  we  know  to  be  untrue,"  while  to 
him  on  the  other  hand  they  were  profoundly  true, 
though  often  enough  not  in  the  way  that  they  are 
generally  accepted.  Had  he  possessed  any  powers 
of  definition  at  that  age,  probably  he  would  have 
described  our  accepted  beliefs  as  shadows  of  the  Truth, 
distorted  and  fantastically  shaped,  like  those  thrown 
by  changeful,  ragged  clouds  behind  which  the  eternal 
sun  is  shining,  shadows  that  vary  in  length  and  char- 
acter according  to  the  hour  and  weather  of  the  mortal 
day. 

Isobel  for  her  part  took  little  heed  of  shadows.  Her 
clear,  scientific  stamp  of  mind  searched  for  ascertain- 
able  facts,  and  on  these  she  built  up  her  philosophy 
of  life  and  of  the  death  that  ends  it.  Of  course  all 
such  contradictions  may  often  be  found  in  a  single 
mind  which  believes  at  one  time  and  rejects  at  another 
and  sees  two,  or  twenty  sides  of  everything  with  a 
painful  and  bewildering  clearness. 

Such  a  character  is  apt  to  end  in  profound  dis- 
satisfaction with  the  self  from  which  it  cannot  be 


28  LOVE  ETERNAL 

free.  Much  more  then  would  one  have  imagined 
that  these  two  must  have  been  dissatisfied  with  each 
other  and  sought  the  opportunities  of  escape  which 
were  open  to  them.  But  it  was  not  so  in  the  least. 
They  argued  and  contradicted  until  they  had  nothing 
more  to  say,  and  then  lapsed  into  long  periods  of 
weary  but  good-natured  silence.  In  a  sense  each  com- 
pleted each  by  the  addition  of  its  opposite,  as  the  dark- 
ness completes  the  light,  thus  making  the  round  of  the 
perfect  day. 

As  yet  this  deep  affection  and  remarkable  oneness 
showed  no  signs  of  the  end  to  which  obviously  it  was 
drifting.  That  kiss  which  the  girl  had  given  to  the 
boy  was  pure  sisterly,  or  one  might  almost  say,  moth- 
erly, and  indeed  this  quality  inspired  their  relationship 
for  much  longer  than  might  have  been  expected.  So 
much  was  this  so  that  no  one  connected  with  them 
on  either  side  ever  had  the  slightest  suspicion  that 
they  cared  for  each  other  in  any  way  except  as  friends 
and  fellow  pupils. 

So  the  years  went  by  till  the  pair  were  seventeen, 
young  man  and  young  woman,  though  still  called  boy 
and  girl.  They  were  good-looking  in  their  respective 
ways  though  yet  unformed ;  tall  and  straight,  too,  both 
of  them,  but  singularly  dissimilar  in  appearance  as  well 
as  in  mind.  Godfrey  was  dark,  pale  and  thoughtful- 
faced.  Isobel  was  fair,  vivacious,  open-natured,  amus- 
ing, and  given  to  saying  the  first  thing  that  came  to 
her  tongue.  She  had  few  reservations;  her  thoughts 
might  be  read  in  her  large  grey  eyes  before  they  were 
heard  from  her  lips,  which  generally  was  not  long 
afterwards.  Also  she  was  very  able.  She  read  and 


ISOBEL  KISSES  GODFREY  29 

understood  the  papers  and  followed  all  the  movements 
of  the  day  with  a  lively  interest,  especially  if  these 
had  to  do  with  national  affairs  or  with  women  and 
their  status. 

Business,  too,  came  naturally  to  her,  so  much  so  that 
her  father  would  consult  her  about  his  undertakings, 
that  is,  about  those  of  them  which  were  absolutely 
above  board  and  beyond  suspicion  of  sharp  dealing. 
The  others  he  was  far  too  wise  to  bring  within  her 
ken,  knowing  exactly  what  he  would  have  heard  from 
her  upon  the  subject.  And  yet  notwithstanding  all 
his  care  she  suspected  him,  by  instinct,  not  by  knowl- 
edge. For  his  part  he  was  proud  of  her  and  would  lis- 
ten with  pleasure  when,  still  a  mere  child,  she  engaged 
his  guests  boldly  in  argument,  for  instance  a  bishop 
or  a  dean  on  theology,  or  a  statesman  upon  current 
politics.  Already  he  had  formed  great  plans  for  her 
future;  she  was  to  marry  a  peer  who  took  an  active 
part  in  things,  or  at  any  rate  a  leading  politician,  and 
to  become  a  power  in  the  land.  But  of  this,  too,  wisely 
he  said  nothing  to  Isobel,  for  the  time  had  not  yet 
come. 

During  these  years  things  had  prospered  exceedingly 
with  John  Blake  who  was  now  a  very  rich  man  with 
ships  owned,  or  partly  owned  by  him  in  every  sea.  On 
several  occasions  he  had  been  asked  to  stand  for  Par- 
liament and  declined  the  honour.  He  knew  himself  to 
be  no  speaker,  and  was  sure  also  that  he  could  not 
attend  both  to  the  affairs  of  the  country  and  to  those 
of  his  ever-spreading  business.  So  he  took  another 
course  and  began  to  support  the  Conservative  Party, 
which  he  selected  as  the  safest,  by  means  of  large  sub- 
scriptions. 


'30  LOVE  ETERNAL 

He  did  more,  he  bought  a  baronetcy,  for  only  thus 
can  the  transaction  be  described.  When  a  General 
Election  was  drawing  near,  one  evening  after  dinner 
at  Hawk's  Hall  he  had  a  purely  business  conversation 
with  a  political  Whip  who,  perhaps  not  without  mo- 
tive, had  been  complaining  to  him  of  the  depleted  state 
of  the  Party  Chest. 

"  Well,"  said  Mr.  Blake,  "  you  know  that  my  prin- 
ciples are  yours  and  that  I  should  like  to  help  your,  or 
rather  our  cause.  Money  is  tight  with  me  just  now 
and  the  outlook  is  very  bad  in  my  trade,  but  I'm  a 
man  who  always  backs  his  fancy;  in  short,  would 
£15,000  be  of  use?" 

The  Whip  intimated  that  it  would  be  of  the  greatest 
use. 

"  Of  course,"  continued  Mr.  Blake,  "  I  presume  that 
the  usual  acknowledgment  would  follow  ?  " 

"  What  acknowledgment  ?  "  asked  the  Whip  sipping 
his  port  wearily,  for  such  negotiations  were  no  new 
thing  to  him.  "  I  mean,  how  do  you  spell  it  ?  " 

"  With  a  P,"  said  Mr.  Blake  boldly,  acting  on  his 
usual  principle  of  asking  for  more  than  he  hoped  to 
get. 

The  Whip  contemplated  him  through  his  eyeglass 
with  a  mild  and  interested  stare. 

"  Out  of  the  question,  my  dear  fellow,"  he  said. 
"  That  box  is  full  and  locked,  and  there's  a  long  out- 
side list  waiting  as  well.  Perhaps  you  mean  with  a  K. 
You  know  money  isn't  everything,  as  some  of  you 
gentlemen  seem  to  think,  and  if  it  were,  you  would 
have  said  fifty  instead  of  fifteen." 

"  K  be  damned !  "  replied  Mr.  Blake,  "  I'm  not  a 
mayor  or  an  actor-manager.  Let's  say  B,  that  stands 


ISOBEL  KISSES  GODFREY  31 

for  Beginning  as  well  as  Baronet;  also  it  comes  be- 
fore P,  doesn't  it?" 

"  Well,  let  us  see.  You  haven't  a  son,  have  you  ? 
Then  perhaps  it  might  be  managed,"  replied  the  Whip 
with  gentle  but  pointed  insolence,  for  Mr.  Blake  an- 
noyed him.  "  I'll  make  inquiries,  and  now,  shall  we 
join  the  ladies?  I  want  to  continue  my  conversation 
with  your  daughter  about  the  corruption  which  some 
enemy,  taking  advantage  of  her  innocence,  has  per- 
suaded her  exists  in  the  Conservative  Party.  She  is  a 
clever  young  lady  and  makes  out  a  good  case  against 
us,  though  I  am  sure  I  do  not  know  whence  she  got 
her  information.  Not  from  you,  I  suppose,  Sir  John 
— I  beg  your  pardon,  Mr.  Blake." 

So  the  matter  was  settled,  as  both  of  them  knew  it 
would  be  when  they  left  the  room.  The  cash  found 
its  way  into  some  nebulous  account  that  nobody  could 
have  identified  with  any  party,  and  in  the  Dissolution 
Honours,  John  Blake,  Esq.,  J.P.,  was  transformed  into 
Sir  John  Blake,  Bart. ;  information  that  left  tens  of 
thousands  of  the  students  of  the  list  mildly  marvelling 
why.  As  the  same  wonder  struck  them  regarding  the 
vast  majority  of  the  names  which  appeared  therein, 
this,  however,  did  not  matter.  They  presumed,  good, 
easy  souls,  that  John  Blake,  Esq.,  J.P.,  and  the  rest 
were  patriots  who  for  long  years  had  been  working 
for  the  good  of  their  country,  and  that  what  they  had 
done  in  secret  had  been  discovered  in  high  places  and 
was  now  proclaimed  from  the  housetops. 

Lady  Jane  was  inclined  to  share  this  view.  She 
knew  that  a  great  deal  of  her  husband's  money  went 
into  mysterious  channels  of  which  she  was  unable  to 
trace  the  ends,  and  concluded  in  her  Victorian-wife 


32  LOVE  ETERNAL 

kind  of  fashion,  or  at  any  rate  hoped,  that  it  was  spent 
in  alleviating  the  distress  of  the  "  Submerged  Tenth  " 
which  at  that  time  was  much  in  evidence.  Hence  no 
doubt  the  gracious  recognition  that  had  come  to  him. 
John  Blake  himself,  who  paid  over  the  cash,  naturally 
had  no  such  delusions,  and  unfortunately  in  that  mo- 
ment of  exultation,  when  he  contemplated  his  own 
name  adorning  the  lists  in  every  newspaper,  let  out 
the  truth  at  breakfast  at  which  Isobel  was  his  sole 
companion.  For  by  this  time  Lady  Jane  had  grown 
too  delicate  to  come  down  early. 

"  Well,  you've  got  a  baronet  for  your  father  now, 
my  girl  " — to  be  accurate  he  called  it  a  "  bart." — he 
said  puffing  himself  out  like  a  great  toad  before  the 
fire,  as  he  threw  down  the  Daily  News  in  which  his 
name  was  icily  ignored  in  a  spiteful  leaderette  about 
the  Honours  List,  upon  the  top  of  The  Times,  The 
Standard,  and  The  Morning  Post. 

"  Oh !  "  said  Isobel  in  an  interested  voice  and  paused. 

"  It's  wonderful  what  money  can  do,"  went  on  her 
father,  who  was  inclined  for  a  discussion,  and  saw  no 
other  way  of  opening  up  the  subject.  "  Certain  quali- 
fications of  which  it  does  not  become  me  to  speak,  and 
a  good  subscription  to  the  Party  funds,  and  there  you 
are  with  Bart,  instead  of  Esq.  after  your  name  and 
Sir  before  it.  I  wonder  when  I  shall  get  the  Patent? 
You  know  baronets  do  not  receive  the  accolade." 

"Don't  they?"  commented  Isobel.  "Well,  that 
saves  the  Queen  some  trouble  of  which  she  must  be 
glad  as  she  does  not  get  the  subscription.  I  know  all 
about  the  accolade,"  she  added;  "  for  Godfrey  has  told 
me.  Only  the  other  day  he  was  showing  me  in  the 
Abbey  Church  where  the  warriors  who  were  to  receive 


ISOBEL  KISSES  GODFREY  '33 

it,  knelt  all  night  before  the  altar.  But  they  didn't 
give  subscriptions,  they  prayed  and  afterwards  took  a 
cold  bath." 

"  Times  are  changed,"  he  answered. 

"  Yes,  of  course.  I  can't  see  you  kneeling  all  night 
with  a  white  robe  on,  Father,  in  prayer  before  an  altar. 
But  tell  me,  would  they  have  made  you  a  baronet  if 
you  hadn't  given  the  subscription  ?  " 

Sir  John  chuckled  till  his  great  form  shook — he  had 
grown  very  stout  of  late  years. 

"  I  think  you  are  sharp  enough  to  answer  that  ques- 
tion for  yourself.  I  have  observed,  Isobel,  that  you 
know  as  much  of  the  world  as  most  young  girls  of 
your  age." 

"  So  you  bought  the  thing,"  she  exclaimed  with  a 
flash  of  her  grey  eyes.  "  I  thought  that  honours  were 
given  because  they  were  earned." 

"Did  you?"  said  Sir  John,  chuckling  again. 
"  Well,  now  you  know  better.  Look  here,  Isobel, 
don't  be  a  fool.  Honours,  or  most  of  them,  like  other 
things,  are  for  those  who  can  pay  for  them  in  this  way 
or  that.  Nobody  bothers  how  they  come  so  long  as 
they  do  come.  Now,  listen.  Unfortunately,  as  a  girl, 
you  can't  inherit  this  title.  But  it  doesn't  matter  much, 
since  it  will  be  easy  for  you  to  get  one  for  yourself." 

Isobel  turned  red  and  uttered  an  exclamation,  but 
enjoining  silence  on  her  with  a  wave  of  his  fat  hand, 
her  father  went  on: 

"  I  haven't  done  so  badly,  my  dear,  considering  my 
chances.  I  don't  mind  telling  you  that  I  am  a  rich 
man  now,  indeed  a  very  rich  man  as  things  go,  and  I 
shall  be  much  richer,  for  nothing  pays  like  ships, 
especially  if  you  man  them  with  foreign  crews.  Also 


34  LOVE  ETERNAL 

I  am  a  Bart.,"  and  he  pointed  to  the  pile  of  newspa- 
pers on  the  floor,  "  and  if  my  Party  gets  in  again, 
before  long  I  shall  be  a  Lord,  which  would  make  you 
an  Honourable.  Anyway,  my  girl,  although  you  ain't 
exactly  a  beauty,"  here  he  considered  her  with  a  critical 
eye,  "  you'll  make  a  fine  figure  of  a  woman  and  with 
your  money,  you  should  be  able  to  get  any  husband 
you  like.  What's  more,"  and  he  banged  his  fist  upon 
the  table,  "  I  expect  you  to  do  it ;  that's  your  part  of 
the  family  business.  Do  you  understand?  " 

"  I  understand,  Father,  that  you  expect  me  to  get 
any  husband  I  like.  Well,  I'll  promise  that." 

"  I  think  you  ought  to  come  into  the  office,  you  are 
so  smart,"  replied  Sir  John  with  sarcasm.  "  But  don't 
you  try  it  on  me,  for  I'm  smarter.  You  know  very 
well  that  I  mean  any  husband  /  like,  when  I  say  '  any 
husband  you  like.'  Now  do  you  understand  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  replied  Isobel  icily.  "  I  understand  that 
you  want  me  to  buy  a  husband  as  you  have  bought  a 
title.  Well,  titles  and  husbands  are  alike  in  one  thing ; 
once  taken  you  can  never  be  rid  of  them  day  or  night. 
So  I'll  say  at  once,  to  save  trouble  afterwards,  that  I 
would  rather  earn  my  living  as  a  farm  girl,  and  as  for 
your  money,  Father,  you  can  do  what  you  wish  with 
it." 

Then  looking  him  straight  in  the  eyes,  she  turned 
and  left  the  room. 

"  An  odd  child !  "  thought  Sir  John  to  himself  as  he 
stared  after  her.  "  Anyway  she  has  got  spirit  and  no 
doubt  will  come  all  right  in  time  when  she  learns 
what's  what." 


CHAPTER  III 

THE    PLANTAGENET    LADY 

IN  the  course  of  these  years  of  adolescence,  Godfrey 
Knight  had  developed  into  a  rather  unusual  stamp  of 
youth.  In  some  ways  he  was  clever,  for  instance  at 
the  classics  and  history  which  he  had  always  liked; 
in  others  and  especially  where  figures  were  concerned, 
he  was  stupid,  or  as  his  father  called  him,  idle.  In 
company  he  was  apt  to  be  shy  and  dull,  unless  some 
subject  interested  him,  when  to  the  astonishment  of 
those  present,  he  would  hold  forth  and  show  knowl- 
edge and  powers  of  reflection  beyond  his  years.  By 
nature  he  was  intensely  proud;  the  one  thing  he  never 
forgot  was  a  rebuff,  or  forgave,  was  an  insult.  Sir 
John  Blake  soon  found  this  out,  and  not  liking  the  lad, 
whose  character  was  antagonistic  to  his  own  in  every 
way,  never  lost  an  opportunity  of  what  he  called 
"  putting  him  in  his  place,"  perhaps  because  some- 
thing warned  him  that  this  awkward,  handsome  boy 
would  become  a  stumbling-block  to  his  successful  feet. 
Godfrey  and  Isobel  were  both  great  readers.  Nor 
did  they  lack  for  books,  for  as  it  chanced  there  was  a 
good  library  at  Hawk's  Hall,  which  had  been  formed 
by  the  previous  owner  and  taken  over  like  the  pictures, 
when  Mr.  Blake  bought  the  house.  Also  it  was  added 
to  constantly,  as  an  order  was  given  to  a  large  London 
bookseller  to  supply  all  the  important  new  works  that 
came  out.  Although  he  never  opened  a  book  himself, 

35 


36  LOVE  ETERNAL 

Sir  John  liked  to  appear  intellectual  by  displaying  them 
about  the  rooms  for  the  benefit  of  his  visitors.  These 
publications  Isobel  read  and  lent  to  Godfrey;  indeed 
they  perused  a  great  deal  which  young  people  generally 
are  supposed  to  leave  alone,  and  this  in  various  schools 
of  thought,  including  those  that  are  known  as  "  free." 

It  was  seldom  that  such  studies  led  to  unanimity 
between  them,  but  to  argument,  which  sharpened  their 
intellects,  they  did  lead,  followed  invariably  by  a 
charitable  agreement  to  differ. 

About  the  time  of  the  addition  of  the  name  of  John 
Blake  to  the  roll  of  British  Chivalry,  a  book  on  Mars 
came  their  way — it  was  one  by  a  speculative  astrono- 
mer which  suggests  that  the  red  planet  is  the  home  of 
reasoning  beings  akin  to  humanity.  Isobel  read  it  and 
was  not  impressed.  Indeed,  in  the  vigorous  language 
of  youth,  she  opined  that  it  was  all  "  made-up  rot." 

Godfrey  read  it  also  and  came  to  quite  a  different 
conclusion.  The  idea  fired  him  and  opened  a  wide 
door  in  his  imagination,  a  quality  with  which  he  was 
well  provided.  He  stared  at  Mars  through  the  large 
Hall  telescope,  and  saw,  or  imagined  that  he  saw  the 
canals,  also  the  snow-caps  and  the  red  herbage.  Isobel 
stared  too  and  saw,  or  swore  that  she  saw — nothing 
at  all — after  which  they  argued  until  their  throats 
were  dry. 

"  It's  all  nonsense,"  said  Isobel.  "  If  only  you'll 
study  the  rocks  and  biology,  and  Darwin's  '  Origin  of 
Species/  and  lots  of  other  things,  you  will  see  how 
man  came  to  develop  on  this  planet.  He  is  just  an 
accident  of  Nature,  that's  all." 

"  And  why  shouldn't  there  be  an  accident  of  Nature 
on  Mars  and  elsewhere?"  queried  Godfrey. 


THE  PLANTAGENET  LADY  3? 

"  Perhaps,  but  if  so,  it  is  quite  another  accident 
and  has  nothing  to  do  with  us." 

"  I  don't  know,"  he  answered.  "  Sometimes,"  here 
his  voice  became  dreamy  as  it  had  a  way  of  doing,  "  I 
think  that  we  pass  on,  all  of  us,  from  star  to  star.  At 
least  I  know  I  often  feel  as  if  I  had  done  so." 

"You  mean  from  planet  to  planet,  Godfrey; 
stars  are  hot  places,  you  know.  You  should  not  swal- 
low all  that  theosophical  bosh  which  is  based  on 
nothing." 

"  There's  the  Bible,"  went  on  Godfrey,  "  which  tells 
us  the  same  thing,  that  we  live  eternally " 

"  Then  we  must  always  have  lived,  since  eternity 
is  a  circle." 

"  Why  not,  Isobel  ?  That  is  what  I  was  trying  to 
say.  .Well,  if  we  live  eternally,  we  must  live  some- 
where, perhaps  in  those  planets,  or  others,  which  it 
would  be  a  waste  to  keep  empty." 

"  I  daresay — though  Nature  does  not  mind  waste,  or 
what  seems  to  be  waste.  But  why  should  you  think  of 
living  eternally  at  all  ?  Many  people  live  a  great  deal 
too  long  as  it  is,  and  it  is  horrible  to  believe  that  they 
go  on  for  ever." 

"  You  see  they  might  grow  to  something  splendid 
in  the  end,  Isobel.  You  must  not  judge  them  by  what 
they  are  now." 

"  Oh !  I  know,  the  caterpillar  and  the  butterfly,  and 
all  the  rest  of  it." 

"  The  Bible  " — continued  Godfrey  imperturbably — 
when  she  cut  him  short. 

"  Well,  what  of  the  Bible  ?  How  do  you  know  that 
it  is  true?" 

"  Because  I  do  know  it,  though  the  truth  in  it  may 


38  LOVE  ETERNAL 

be  different  for  everyone.  What  is  more,  I  know  that 
one  day  you  will  agree  with  me." 

She  looked  at  him  curiously  in  the  flashing  way  that 
was  peculiar  to  her,  for  something  in  his  tone  and 
manner  impressed  her. 

"  Perhaps.  I  hope  so,  Godfrey,  but  at  present  I 
often  feel  as  though  I  believed  in  nothing,  except 
that  I  am  I  and  you  are  you,  and  my  father  is — there 
he's  calling  me.  Goodbye,"  and  she  was  gone. 

This  particular  conversation,  one  of  many,  had,  as 
it  happened,  important  results  on  the  lives  of  these  two 
young  creatures.  Isobel,  in  whom  the  love  of  Truth, 
however  ugly  it  might  be  and  however  destructive  of 
hope,  faith,  charity  and  all  the  virtues,  was  a  burning, 
inbred  passion,  took  to  the  secret  study  of  theology 
in  order  to  find  out  why  Godfrey  was  so  convinced  as 
to  the  teachings  of  the  Bible.  She  was  not  old  or 
mellowed  enough  to  understand  that  the  real  reason 
must  be  discovered,  not  in  the  letter  but  in  the  spirit, 
that  is  in  the  esoteric  meaning  of  the  sayings  as  to 
receiving  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  like  a  child  and  the 
necessity  of  being  born  again.  Therefore  with  a  fierce 
intensity,  thrusting  aside  the  spirit  and  its  promptings 
which  perhaps  are  shadows  of  the  only  real  truths,  she 
wrestled  with  the  letter.  She  read  the  Divines,  also 
much  of  the  Higher  Criticism,  the  lives  of  Saints,  the 
Sacred  Books  themselves  and  many  other  things,  only 
to  arise  bewildered,  and  to  a  great  extent  unbelieving. 

"Why  should  I  believe  what  I  cannot  prove?"  she 
cried  in  her  heart,  and  once  with  her  lips  to  Godfrey. 

He  made  her  a  very  wise  answer,  although  at  the 
moment  it  did  not  strike  either  of  them  in  that  light. 

"  When  you  tell  me  of  anything  that  you  can  really 


THE  PLANTAGENET  LADY  39 

prove,  I  will  show  you  why,"  he  said.  To  this  he 
added  a  suggestion  that  was  most  unwise,  namely,  that 
she  should  consult  his  father. 

Now  Mr.  Knight  was,  it  is  true,  a  skilled  theolo- 
gian of  a  certain,  narrow  school  and  learned  in  his 
way.  It  is  probable,  however,  that  in  all  the  wide 
world  it  would  have  been  difficult  to  find  any  man  less 
sympathetic  to  a  mind  like  Isobel's  or  more  likely  to 
antagonize  her  eager  and  budding  intelligence.  Every 
doubt  he  met  with  intolerant  denial;  every  argument 
with  offensive  contradiction;  every  query  with  refer- 
ences to  texts. 

Finally,  he  lost  his  temper,  for  be  it  acknowledged, 
that  this  girl  was  persistent,  far  from  humble,  and  in  a 
way  as  dogmatic  as  himself.  He  told  her  that  she  was 
not  a  Christian,  and  in  her  wrath  she  agreed  with  him. 
He  said  that  she  had  no  right  to  be  in  church.  She 
replied  that  if  this  were  so  she  would  not  come  and, 
her  father  being  indifferent  upon  the  point  (Lady  Jane 
did  not  count  in  such  matters),  ceased  her  attendance. 
It  was  the  old  story  of  a  strait-minded  bigot  forcing 
a  large-minded  doubter  out  of  the  fold  that  ought  to 
have  been  wide  enough  for  both  of  them.  Moreover, 
this  difference  of  opinion  on  matters  of  public  and 
spiritual  interest  ended  in  a  private  and  mundane  ani- 
mosity. Mr.  Knight  could  never  forgive  a  pupil  of 
his  own,  whose  ability  he  recognized,  who  dared  to 
question  his  pontifical  announcements.  To  him  the 
matter  was  personal  rather  than  one  of  religious  truth, 
for  there  are  certain  minds  in  whose  crucibles  every- 
thing is  resolved  individually,  and  his  was  one  of 
them.  He  saw  the  largest  matters  through  his  own 
special  and  highly-magnifying  spectacles.  So,  to  be 


•40  LOVE  ETERNAL 

brief,  they  quarrelled  once  and  for  all,  and  thence- 
forward never  attempted  to  conceal  their  cordial  dis- 
like of  each  other. 

Such  was  one  result  of  this  unlucky  discussion  as  to 
the  exact  conditions  of  the  planet  Mars,  god  of  war. 
Another  was  that  Godfrey  developed  a  strong  interest 
in  the  study  of  the  heavenly  bodies  and  when  some 
domestic  debate  arose  as  to  his  future  career,  an- 
nounced with  mild  firmness  that  he  intended  to  be  an 
astronomer.  His  father,  to  whom  the  heavenly  bodies 
were  less  than  the  dust  beneath  his  human  feet  and 
who  believed  in  his  heart  that  they  had  been  created, 
every  one  of  them,  to  give  a  certain  amount  of  light 
to  the  inhabitants  of  this  world  when  there  was  no 
moon,  was  furious  in  his  arctic  fashion,  especially  as 
he  was  aware  that  with  a  few  distinguished  exceptions, 
these  hosts  of  heaven  did  not  reward  their  votaries 
with  either  wealth  or  honour. 

"  I  intend  you  for  my  own  profession,  the  Church," 
he  said  bluntly.  "If  you  choose  to  star-gaze  in  the 
intervals  of  your  religious  duties,  it  is  no  affair  of 
mine.  But  please  understand,  Godfrey,  that  either 
you  enter  the  Church  or  I  wash  my  hands  of  you. 
In  that  event  you  may  seek  your  living  in  any  way 
you  like." 

Godfrey  remonstrated  meekly  to  the  effect  that  he 
had  not  made  up  his  mind  as  to  his  fitness  for  Holy 
Orders  or  his  wish  to  undertake  them. 

"  You  mean,"  replied  his  father,  "  that  you  have 
been  infected  by  that  pernicious  girl,  Isobel.  Well, 
at  any  rate,  I  will  remove  you  from  her  evil  influence. 
I  am  glad  to  say  that  owing  to  the  fact  that  my  little 
school  here  has  prospered,  I  am  in  a  position  to  do 


THE  PLANTAGENET  LADY  41 

this.  I  will  send  you  for  a  year  to  a  worthy  Swiss 
pastor  whom  I  met  as  a  delegate  to  the  recent  Evan- 
gelical Congress,  to  learn  French.  He  told  me  he 
desired  an  English  pupil  to  be  instructed  in  that  tongue 
and  general  knowledge.  I  will  write  to  him  at  once. 
I  hope  that  in  new  surroundings  you  will  forget  all 
these  wild  ideas  and,  after  your  course  at  college, 
settle  down  to  be  a  good  and  useful  man  in  the  walk 
of  life  to  which  you  are  so  clearly  called." 

Godfrey,  who  on  such  occasions  knew  how  to  be 
silent,  made  no  answer,  although  the  attack  upon  Isobel 
provoked  him  sorely.  In  his  heart  indeed  he  reflected 
that  a  year's  separation  from  his  parent  would  not  be 
difficult  to  bear,  especially  beneath  the  shadow  of  the 
Swiss  mountains  which  secretly  he  longed  to  climb. 
Also  he  really  wished  to  acquire  French,  being  a  lad 
with  some  desire  for  knowledge  and  appreciation  of 
its  advantages.  So  he  looked  humble  merely  and  took 
the  first  opportunity  to  slip  from  the  presence  of  the 
fierce  little  man  with  small  eyes,  straight,  sandy  hair 
and  a  slit  where  his  lips  should  be,  through  whose 
agency,  although  it  was  hard  to  believe  it,  he  had  ap- 
peared in  this  disagreeable  and  yet  most  interesting 
world. 

In  point  of  fact  he  had  an  assignation,  of  an  inno- 
cent sort.  Of  course  it  was  with  the  "  pernicious  " 
Isobel  and  the  place  appointed  was  the  beautiful  old 
Abbey  Church.  Here  they  knew  that  they  would  be 
undisturbed,  as  Mr.  Knight  was  to  sleep  at  a  county 
town  twenty  miles  away,  where  on  the  following 
morning  he  had  business  as  the  examiner  of  a  local 
Grammar  School,  and  must  leave  at  once  to  catch  his 

train.     $o,  when  watching  from  an  upper  window, 

" 


42  LOVE  ETERNAL 

he  had  seen  the  gig  well  on  the  road,  Godfrey  departed 
to  his  tryst. 

Arriving  in  the  dim  and  beauteous  old  fane,  the 
first  thing  he  saw  was  Isobel  standing  alone  in  the 
chancel,  right  in  the  heart  of  a  shaft  of  light  that  fell 
on  her  through  the  rich-coloured  glass  of  the  great 
west  window,  for  now  it  was  late  in  the  afternoon. 
She  wore  a  very  unusual  white  garment  that  became 
her  well,  but  had  no  hat  on  her  head.  Perhaps  this 
was  because  she  had  taken  the  fancy  to  do  her  plenti- 
ful fair  hair  in  the  old  Plantagenet  fashion,  that  is  in 
two  horns,  which,  with  much  ingenuity  she  had  copied 
more  or  less  correctly  from  the  brass  of  an  ancient, 
noble  lady,  whereof  the  two  intended  to  take  an  im- 
pression. Also  she  had  imitated  some  of  the  other 
peculiarities  of  that  picturesque  costume,  including  the 
long,  hanging  sleeves.  In  short,  she  wore  a  fancy 
dress  which  she  proposed  to  use  afterwards  at  a  dance, 
and  one  of  the  objects  of  the  rubbing  they  were  about 
to  make,  was  that  she  might  study  the  details  more 
carefully.  At  least,  that  was  her  object.  Godfrey's 
was  to  obtain  an  impression  of  the  crabbed  inscription 
at  the  foot  of  the  effigy. 

There  she  stood,  tall  and  imposing,  her  arms  folded 
on  her  young  breast,  the  painted  lights  striking  full 
on  her  broad,  intellectual  forehead  and  large  grey 
eyes,  shining  too  in  a  patch  of  crimson  above  her 
heart.  Lost  in  thought  and  perfectly  still,  she  looked 
strange  thus,  almost  unearthly,  so  much  so  that  the 
impressionable  and  imaginative  Godfrey,  seeing  her 
suddenly  from  the  shadow,  halted,  startled  and  almost 
frightened. 

What  did  she  resemble?    What  might  she  not  be? 


43 

he  queried  in  himself.  His  quick  mind  suggested  an 
answer.  The  ghost  of  some  lady  dead  ages  since, 
killed,  for  there  was  the  patch  of  blood  upon  her 
bosom,  standing  above  the  tomb  wherein  her  bones 
crumbled,  and  dreaming  of  someone  from  whom  she 
had  been  divorced  by  doom  and  violence. 

He  sickened  a  little  at  the  thought;  some  dread  fell 
upon  him  like  a  shadow  from  Fate's  uplifted  and 
pointed  finger,  stopping  his  breath  and  causing  his 
knees  to  loosen.  In  a  moment  it  was  gone,  to  be 
replaced  by  another  that  was  nearer  and  more  natural. 
He  was  to  be  sent  away  for  a  year,  and  this  meant 
that  he  would  not  see  Isobel  for  a  year.  It  would  be 
a  very  long  year  in  which  he  did  not  see  Isobel.  He 
had  forgotten  that  when  his  father  told  him  that  he 
was  to  go  to  Switzerland.  Now  the  fact  was  pain- 
fully present. 

He  came  on  up  the  long  nave  and  Isobel,  awaken- 
ing, saw  him. 

"  You  are  late,"  she  said  in  a  softer  voice  than  was 
usual  to  her.  "  Well,  I  don't  mind,  for  I  have  been 
dreaming.  I  think  I  went  to  sleep  upon  my  feet.  I 
dreamed,"  she  added,  pointing  to  the  brass,  "  that  I 
was  that  lady  and — oh !  all  sorts  of  things.  Well,  she 
had  her  day  no  doubt,  and  1  mean  to  have  mine  before 
I  am  as  dead  and  forgotten  as  she  is.  Only  I  would 
like  to  be  buried  here.  I'll  be  cremated  and  have  my 
ashes  put  under  that  stone;  they  won't  hurt  her." 

"  Don't  talk  like  that,"  he  said  with  a  little  shiver, 
for  her  words  jarred  upon  him. 

"  Why  not  ?  It  is  as  well  to  face  things.  Look 
at  all  these  monuments  about  us,  and  inscriptions,  a 
lot  of  them  to  young  people,  though  now  it  doesn't 


44  LOVE  ETERNAL 

matter  if  they  were  old  or  young.  Gone,  every  one 
of  them,  and  quite  forgotten,  though  some  were  great 
folk  in  their  time.  Gone  utterly  and  for  always, 
nothing  left,  except  perhaps  descendants  in  a  labourer's 
cottage  here  and  there  who  never  even  heard  of  them." 

"  I  don't  believe  it,"  he  said  almost  passionately, 
"  I  believe  that  they  are  living  for  ever  and  ever,  per- 
haps as  you  and  I,  perhaps  elsewhere." 

"I  wish  I  could,"  she  answered,  smiling,  "  for  then 
my  dream  might  have  been  true,  and  you  might  have 
been  that  knight  whose  brass  is  lost,"  and  she  pointed 
to  an  empty  matrix  alongside  that  of  the  great  Plan- 
tagenet  lady. 

Godfrey  glanced  at  the  inscription  which  was  left 
when  the  Cromwellians  tore  up  the  brass. 

"  He  was  her  husband,"  he  said,  translating,  "  who 
died  on  the  field  of  Crecy  in  1346." 

"  Oh !  "  exclaimed  Isobel,  and  was  silent. 

Meanwhile  Godfrey,  quite  undisturbed,  was  spelling 
out  the  inscription  beneath  the  figure  of  the  knight's 
wife,  and  remarked  presently : 

"  She  seems  to  have  died  a  year  before  him.  Yes, 
just  after  marriage,  the  monkish  Latin  says,  and — 
what  is  it  ?  Oh !  I  see,  '  in  sanguine/  that  is,  in  blood, 
whatever  that  may  mean.  Perhaps  she  was  murdered. 
I  say,  Isobel,  I  wish  you  would  copy  someone  else's 
dress  for  your  party." 

"  Nonsense,"  she  answered.  "  I  think  it's  awfully 
interesting.  I  wonder  what  happened  to  her." 

"  I  don't  know.  I  can't  remember  anything  in  the 
old  history,  and  it  would  be  almost  impossible  to  find 
out.  There  are  no  coats  of  arms,  and  what  is  more, 
no  surname  is  given  in  either  inscription.  The  one 


THE  PLANTAGENET  LADY  45 

says,  '  Pray  for  the  soul  of  Edmundus,  Knight,  hus- 
band of  Phillippa/  and  the  other,  '  Pray  for  the  soul 
of  Phillippa,  Dame,  wife  of  Edmundus.'  It  looks 
as  though  the  surname  had  been  left  out  on  purpose, 
perhaps  because  of  some  queer  story  about  the  pair 
which  their  relations  wished  to  be  forgotten." 

"  Then  why  do  they  say  that  one  died  in  blood  and 
the  other  on  the  field  of  Crecy?  " 

Godfrey  shook  his  head  because  he  did  not  know. 
Nor  indeed  was  he  ever  able  to  find  out.  That  secret 
was  lost  hundreds  of  years  ago.  Then  the  conversa- 
tion died  away  and  they  got  to  their  work. 

At  length  the  rubbing,  as  it  is  termed  technically, 
was  finished  and  the  two  prepared  to  depart  out  of 
the  gloom  of  the  great  church  which  had  gathered 
about  them  as  the  evening  closed  in.  Solitary  and 
small  they  looked  in  it  surrounded  by  all  those  me- 
mentoes of  the  dead,  enveloped  as  it  were  in  the  very 
atmosphere  of  death.  Who  has  not  felt  that  atmos- 
phere standing  alone  at  nightfall  in  one  of  our  ancient 
English  churches  that  embody  in  baptism,  marriage 
and  burial  the  hopes,  the  desires,  and  the  fears  of 
unnumbered  generations  ? 

For  remember,  that  in  a  majority  of  instances,  long 
before  the  Cross  rose  above  these  sites,  they  had  been 
the  sacred  places  of  faith  after  faith.  Sun-worship- 
pers, Nature-worshippers,  Druids,  votaries  of  Jove  and 
Venus,  servants  of  Odin,  Thor  and  Friga,  early  Chris- 
tians who  were  half  one  thing  and  half  another,  all 
have  here  bowed  their  brows  to  earth  in  adoration  of 
God  as  they  understood  Him,  and  in  these  hallowed 
spots  lies  mingled  the  dust  of  every  one  of  them. 

So  Godfrey  felt  in  that  hour  and  the  same  influences 


46  LOVE  ETERNAL 

impinged  upon  and  affected  even  the  girl's  bold,  deny- 
ing soul.  She  acknowledged  them  to  herself,  and 
after  a  woman's  way,  turned  and  almost  fiercely  laid 
the  blame  upon  her  companion. 

'  You  have  infected  me  with  your  silly  supersti- 
tions," she  said,  stamping  her  foot  as  they  shut  and 
locked  the  door  of  the  church.  "  I  feel  afraid  of 
something,  I  don't  know  what,  and  I  was  never  afraid 
of  anything  before." 

"  What  superstitions  ? "  he  asked  apologetically. 
"  I  don't  remember  mentioning  any." 

"  There  is  no  need  for  you  to  mention  them,  they 
ooze  out  of  you.  As  though  I  could  not  read  your 
mind!  There's  no  need  for  you  to  talk  to  tell  me 
what  you  are  thinking  of,  death — and  separations 
which  are  as  bad,  and  unknown  things  to  come,  and 
all  sorts  of  horrors." 

"  That's  odd,"  he  remarked,  still  without  emotion, 
for  he  was  used  to  these  attacks  from  Isobel  which, 
as  he  knew,  when  she  was  upset,  always  meant  any- 
thing but  what  she  said,  "  for  as  a  matter  of  fact  I 
was  thinking  of  a  separation.  I  am  going  away, 
Isobel,  or  rather,  my  father  is  sending  me  away." 

He  turned,  and  pointing  to  the  stormy  western  sky 
where  the  day  died  in  splendour,  added  simply  in  the 
poetic  imagery  that  so  often  springs  to  the  lips  of 
youth : 

"  There  sets  our  sun ;  at  least  it  is  the  last  we  shall 
look  upon  together  for  a  whole  year.  You  go  to 
London  to-morrow,  don't  you?  Before  you  come 
back  I  shall  be  gone." 

"Gone!  Why?  Where?  Oh!  what's  the  use  of 
asking?  I  knew  something  of  the  sort  was  coming. 


THE  PLANTAGENET  LADY  47 

I  felt  it  in  that  horrible  old  church.  And  after  all, 
why  should  I  mind?  What  does  it  matter  if  you  go 
away  for  a  year  or  ten  years — except  that  you  are 
the  only  friend  I  have — especially  as  no  doubt  you  are 
glad  to  get  out  of  this  dreadful  hole?  Don't  stand 
there  looking  at  me  like  a  moon-calf,  whatever  that 

may  be,  but  tell  me  what  you  mean,  or  I'll,  I'll " 

and  she  stopped. 

Then  he  told  her — well,  not  quite  everything,  for 
he  omitted  his  father's  disparaging  remarks  about 
herself. 

She  listened  in  her  intent  fashion,  and  filled  in  the 
gaps  without  difficulty. 

"  I  see,"  she  said.  "  Your  father  thinks  that  I  am 
corrupting  you  about  religion,  as  though  anybody 
could  corrupt  you  when  you  have  got  an  idea  into 
your  stupid  head;  at  least,  on  those  subjects.  Oh! 
I  hate  him,  worse  even  thanj  do  my  own,  worse  than 
you  do  yourself." 

Godfrey,  thinking  aloud,  began  to  quote  the  fourth 
Commandment.  She  cut  him  short: 

"  Honour  my  father !  "  she  said.  "  Why  should 
we  honour  our  fathers  unless  they  are  worthy  of 
honour  ?  What  have  we  to  thank  them  for  ?  " 

"  Life,"  suggested  Godfrey. 

"  Why  ?  You  believe  that  life  comes  from  God, 
and  so  do  I  in  a  way.  If  so,  what  has  a  father  to 
do  with  it  who  is  just  a  father  and  no  more?  With 
mothers  perhaps  it  is  different,  but  you  see  I  love  my 
mother  and  he  treats  her  like — like  a  dog,  or  worse," 
and  her  grey  eyes  filled  with  tears.  "  However,  it  is 
your  father  we  are  talking  of,  and  there  is  no  com- 
mandmient  telling  me  to  honour  him.  I  say  I  hate 


48  LOVE  ETERNAL 

him  and  he  hates  me,  and  that's  why  he  is  sending 
you  away.  Well,  I  hope  you  won't  find  anyone  to 
contaminate  you  in  Switzerland." 

"Oh!  Isobel,  Isobel,"  he  broke  out,  "don't  be  so 
bitter,  especially  as  it  is  of  no  use.  Besides  after  all 
you  have  got  everything  that  a  girl  can  have — money 
and  position  and  looks " 

"  Looks ! "  she  exclaimed,  seizing  on  the  last  word, 
"  when  you  know  I  am  as  ugly  as  a  toad." 

He  stared  at  her. 

"I  don't  know  it;  I  think  you  beautiful." 

"  Wait  till  you  see  someone  else  and  you  will  change 
your  mind,"  she  snapped,  flushing. 

"And  you  are  going  to  come  out,"  he  went  on 
hastily. 

"Yes,  at  a  fancy  ball  in  this  Plantagenet  lady's 
dress,  but  I  almost  wish  I  was — to  go  out  instead — 
like  her." 

"  And  I  daresay  you  will  soon  be  married,"  he 
blurted,  losing  his  head  for  she  bewildered  him. 

"  Married !  Oh !  you  idiot.  Do  you  know  what 
marriage  means — to  a  woman  ?  Married !  I  can  bear 
no  more  of  this.  Goodbye,"  and  turning  she  walked, 
or  rather  ran  into  the  darkness,  leaving  him  amazed 
and  alone. 

This  was  the  last  time  that  Godfrey  spoke  with 
Isobel  for  a  long  while.  Next  morning  he  received 
a  note  addressed  in  her  clear  and  peculiar  writing, 
which  from  the  angular  formation  of  the  letters  and 
their  regularity,  at  a  distance  looked  not  unlike  a 
sheet  of  figures. 

It  was  short  and  ran : — 


THE  PLANTAGENET  LADY  49 

"DEAR  OLD  GODFREY, — Don't  be  vexed  with  me  be- 
cause I  was  so  cross  this  evening.  Something  in  that 
old  church  upset  me,  and  you  know  I  have  a  dreadful 
temper.  I  didn't  mean  anything  I  said.  I  daresay  it  is  a 
good  thing  you  should  go  away  and  see  the  world  in- 
stead of  sticking  in  this  horrid  place.  Leave  your  address 
with  Mother  Parsons,  and  I  will  write  to  you ;  but  mind 
you  answer  my  letters  or  I  shan't  write  any  more.  Good- 
bye, old  boy. 

Your  affectionate 

ISOBEL. 
Who  is  always  thinking  of  you. 

"P.S.— I'll  get  this  to  the  Abbey  with  your  milk. 
Can't  leave  it  myself,  as  we  are  starting  for  town  at 
half-past  seven  to-morrow  morning  to  catch  the  early 
train." 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  GARDEN  IN  THE  SQUARE 

As  it  chanced  Godfrey  did  see  Isobel  once  more  be- 
fore he  left  England.  It  was  arranged  that  he  was 
to  leave  Charing  Cross  for  Switzerland  early  on  a 
certain  Wednesday  morning.  Late  on  the  Tuesday 
afternoon,  Mr.  Knight  brought  the  lad  to  the  Charing 
Cross  Hotel.  There,  having  taken  his  ticket  and 
made  all  other  necessary  arrangements,  he  left  him, 
returning  himself  to  Essex  by  the  evening  train. 
Their  farewell  was  somewhat  disconcerting,  at  any 
rate  to  the  mind  of  the  youth. 

His  father  retired  with  him  to  his  room  at  the  top 
of  the  hotel,  and  there  administered  a  carefully  pre- 
pared lecture  which  touched  upon  every  point  of  the 
earnest  Christian's  duty,  ending  up  with  admonitions 
on  the  dangers  of  the  world,  the  flesh  and  the  devil, 
and  a  strong  caution  against  frivolous,  unbelieving  and 
evil-disposed  persons,  especially  such  as  were  young, 
good-looking  and  wore  petticoats. 

"  Woman,"  said  Mr.  Knight,  "  is  the  great  danger 
of  man.  She  is  the  Devil's  favourite  bait,  at  least 
to  some  natures  of  which  I  fear  yours  is  one,  though 
that  is  strange,  as  I  may  say  that  on  the  whole  I  have 
always  disliked  the  sex,  and  I  married  for  other  rea- 
sons than  those  which  are  supposed  to  be  common. 
Woman,"  he  went  on,  warming  to  his  topic,  "although 
allowed  upon  the  world  as  a  necessary  evil,  is  a  painted 

50 


THE  GARDEN  IN  THE  SQUARE    51 

snare,  full  of  [he  meant  baited  with]  guile.  You  will 
remember  that  the  first  woman,  in  her  wicked  desire 
to  make  him  as  bad  as  herself,  tempted  Adam  until 
he  ate  the  apple,  no  doubt  under  threats  of  estranging 
herself  from  him  if  he  did  not,  and  all  the  results 
that  came  from  her  iniquity,  one  of  which  is  that  men 
have  had  to  work  hard  ever  since." 

Here  Godfrey  reflected  that  there  was  someone  be- 
hind who  tempted  the  woman,  also  that  it  is  better 
to  work  than  to  sit  in  a  garden  in  eternal  idleness, 
and  lastly,  that  a  desire  for  knowledge  is  natural  and 
praiseworthy.  Had  Isobel  been  in  his  place  she  would 
have  advanced  these  arguments,  probably  in  vigorous 
and  pointed  language,  but,  having  learnt  something 
of  Adam's  lesson,  he  was  wiser  and  held  his 
tongue. 

"  There  is  this  peculiarity  about  woman,"  continued 
his  parent,  "  which  I  beg  you  always  to  remember. 
It  is  that  when  you  think  she  is  doing  what  you  want 
and  that  she  loves  you,  you  are  doing  what  she  wants 
and  really  she  only  loves  herself.  Therefore  you  must 
never  pay  attention  to  her  soft  words,  and  especially 
beware  of  her  tears  which  are  her  strongest  weapon 
given  to  her  by  the  father  of  deceit  to  enable  her  to 
make  fools  of  men.  Do  you  understand?" 

"Yes,"  said  Godfrey,  with  hesitation,  "but " 

this  burst  from  him  involuntarily,  "  but,  Father,  if 
you  have  always  avoided  women,  as  you  say,  how  do 
you  know  all  this  about  them  ?  " 

For  a  moment  Mr.  Knight  was  staggered.  Then 
he  rose  to  the  occasion. 

"  I  know  it,  Godfrey,  by  observing  the  effect  of 
their  arts  on  others,  as  I  have  done  frequently." 


52  LOVE  ETERNAL 

A  picture  rose  in  Godfrey's  mind  of  his  father  with 
his  eye  to  keyholes,  or  peering  through  fences  with 
wide-open  ears,  but  wisely  he  did  not  pursue  the 
subject. 

"  My  son,"  continued  and  ended  Mr.  Knight,  "  I 
have  watched  you  closely  and  I  am  sure  that  your 
weakness  lies  this  way.  Woman  is  and  always  will 
be  the  sin  that  doth  so  easily  beset  you.  Even  as 
a  child  you  loved  Mrs.  Parsons  much  more  than  you 
did  me,  because,  although  old  and  unsightly,  she  is 
still  female.  When  you  left  your  home  this  morning 
for  the  first  time,  who  was  it  that  you  grieved  to  part 
from?  Not  your  companions,  the  other  boys,  but 
Mrs.  Parsons  again,  whom  I  found  you  embracing  in 
that  foolish  fashion,  yes,  and  mingling  your  tears  with 
hers,  of  which  at  your  age  you  should  be  ashamed. 
Indeed  I  believe  that  you  feel  being  separated  from 
that  garrulous  person,  who  is  but  a  servant,  more 
than  you  do  from  me,  your  father." 

Here  he  waited  for  Godfrey's  contradiction,  but  as 
none  came,  went  on  with  added  acerbity: 

"Of  that  angnis  in  herba,  that  viper,  Isobel,  who 
turns  the  pure  milk  of  the  Word  to  poison  and  bites 
the  hand  that  fed  her,  I  will  say  nothing,  nothing," 
(here  Godfrey  reflected  that  Isobel  would  have  been 
better  described  as  a  lion  in  the  path  rather  than  as 
a  snake  in  the  grass)  "  except  that  I  rejoice  that  you 
are  to  be  separated  from  her,  and  I  strictly  forbid  any 
communication  between  you  and  her,  bold,  godless  and 
revolutionary  as  she  is.  I  had  rather  see  any  man  for 
whose  welfare  I  cared,  married  to  a  virtuous  and 
pious-minded  housemaid,  than  to  this  young  lady,  as 
she  is  called,  with  all  her  wealth  and  position,  who 


THE  GARDEN  IN  THE  SQUARE    53 

would  eat  out  his  soul  with  her  acid  unbelief  and  turn 
the  world  upside  down  to  satisfy  her  fancy.  Now  I 
must  go  or  I  shall  miss  my  train.  Here  is  a  present 
for  you,  of  which  I  direct  you  to  read  a  chapter  every 
day,"  and  he  produced  out  of  a  brown  paper  parcel 
a  large  French  Bible.  "  It  will  both  do  you  good  and 
improve  your  knowledge  of  the  French  tongue.  I 
especially  commend  your  attention  to  certain  verses 
in  Proverbs  dealing  with  the  dangers  on  which  I  have 
touched,  that  I  have  marked  with  a  blue  pencil.  Do 
you  hear  ? " 

"  Yes,  Father.  Solomon  wrote  Proverbs,  didn't 
he?" 

"  It  is  believed  so  and  his  wide — experience — gives 
a  special  value  to  his  counsel.  You  will  write  to  me 
once  a  week,  and  when  you  have  had  your  dinner  get 
to  bed  at  once.  On  no  account  are  you  to  go  out  into 
the  streets.  Goodbye," 

Then  he  planted  a  frosty  kiss  upon  Godfrey's  brow 
and  departed,  leaving  that  youth  full  of  reflections, 
but  to  tell  the  truth,  somewhat  relieved. 

Shortly  afterwards  Godfrey  descended  to  the  coffee- 
room  and  ate  his  dinner.  Here  it  was  that  the  uni- 
versal temptress  against  whom  he  had  been  warned 
so  urgently,  put  in  a  first  appearance  in  the  person 
of  a  pleasant  and  elderly  lady  who  was  seated  along- 
side of  him.  Noting  this  good-looking  and  lonely 
lad,  she  began  to  talk  to  him,  and  being  a  woman  of 
the  world,  soon  knew  all  about  him,  his  name,  who 
he  was,  whither  he  was  going,  etc.  When  she  found 
out  that  it  was  to  Lucerne,  or  rather  its  immediate 
neighbourhood,  she  grew  quite  interested,  since,  as  it 
happened,  she — her  name  was  Miss  Ogilvy — had  a 


54  LOVE  ETERNAL 

house  there  where  she  was  accustomed  to  spend  most 
of  the  year.  Indeed,  she  was  returning  by  the  same 
train  that  Godfrey  was  to  take  on  the  following 
morning. 

"  We  shall  be  travelling  companions,"  she  said  when 
she  had  explained  all  this. 

"  I  am  afraid  not,"  he  answered,  glancing  at  the 
many  evidences  of  wealth  upon  her  person.  "  You 
see,"  he  added  colouring,  "  I  am  going  second  and 
have  to  spend  as  little  as  possible.  Indeed  I  have 
brought  some  food  with  me  in  a  basket  so  that  I  shall 
not  need  to  buy  any  meals  at  the  stations." 

Miss  Ogilvy  was  touched,  but  laughed  the  matter 
off  in  her  charming  way,  saying  that  he  would  have 
to  be  careful  that  the  Custom-house  officers  did  not 
think  he  was  smuggling  something  in  his  basket,  and 
as  she  knew  them  all  must  look  to  her  to  help  him 
if  he  got  into  difficulties  on  the  journey.  Then  she 
went  on  chatting  and  drawing  him  out,  and  what  is 
more,  made  him  take  several  glasses  of  some  delicious 
white  wine  she  was  drinking.  It  was  not  very  strong 
wine,  but  except  for  a  little  small  beer,  practically 
Godfrey  had  been  brought  up  as  a  teetotaller  for 
economy's  sake,  and  it  went  to  his  head.  He  became 
rather  effusive;  he  told  her  of  Sir  John  Blake  about 
whom  she  seemed  to  know  everything  already,  and 
something  of  his  friendship  with  Isobel,  who,  he 
added,  was  coming  out  that  very  night  at  a  fancy 
dress  ball  in  London. 

"  I  know,"  said  Miss  Ogilvy,  "  at  the  de  Lisles' 
in  Grosvenor  Square.  I  was  asked  to  it,  but  could 
not  go  as  I  am  starting  to-morrow." 

Then  she  rose  and  said  "  Good-night,"  bidding  him 


THE  GARDEN  IN  THE  SQUARE    55 

be  sure  not  to  be  late  for  the  train,  as  she  would  want 
him  to  help  her  with  her  luggage. 

So  off  she  went  looking  very  charming  and  gra- 
cious, although  she  was  over  forty,  and  leaving  God- 
frey quite  flattered  by  her  attention. 

Not  knowing  what  to  do  he  put  on  his  hat  and, 
walking  across  the  station  yard,  took  his  stand  by  a 
gateway  pillar  and  watched  the  tide  of  London  life 
roll  by.  There  he  remained  for  nearly  an  hour,  since 
the  strange  sight  fascinated  him  who  had  never  been 
in  town  before,  the  object  of  some  attention  from  a 
policeman,  although  of  this  he  was  unaware.  Also 
some  rather  odd  ladies  spoke  to  him  from  time  to 
time  which  he  thought  kind  of  them,  although  they 
smelt  so  peculiar  and  seemed  to  have  paint  upon  their 
faces.  In  answer  to  the  inquiries  of  two  of  them  as 
to  his  health  he  told  them  that  he  was  very  well.  Also 
he  agreed  cordially  with  a  third  as  to  the  extreme 
fineness  of  the  night,  and  assured  a  fourth  that  he 
had  no  wish  to  take  a  walk  as  he  was  shortly  going 
to  bed,  a  statement  which  caused  her  to  break  into 
uncalled-for  laughter. 

It  was  at  this  point  that  the  doubting  policeman 
suggested  that  he  should  move  on. 

"Where  to? "  asked  Godfrey  of  that  officer  of  the 
law. 

"  To  'ell  if  you  like,"  he  replied.  Then  struck  with 
curiosity,  he  inquired,  "  Where  do  you  want  to  go  to  ? 
This  pillar  ain't  a  leaning  post." 

Godfrey  considered  the  matter  and  said  with  the 
verve  of  slight  intoxication: 

"  Only  two  places  appeal  to  me  at  present,  heaven 
(not  hell  as  you  suggested),  and  Grosvenor  Square. 


56  LOVE  ETERNAL 

Perhaps,  however,  they  are  the  same;  at  any  rate, 
there  is  an  angel  in  both  of  them." 

The  policeman  stared  at  him  but  could  find  no  fault 
with  the  perfect  sobriety  of  his  appearance. 

"  Young  luny,  I  suspect,"  he  muttered  to  himself, 
then  said  aloud:  "Well,  the  Strand  don't  lead  to 
'eaven  so  far  as  I  have  noticed,  rather  t'other  way 
indeed.  But  if  you  want  Grosvenor  Square,  it's  over 
there,"  and  he  waved  his  hand  vaguely  towards  the 
west. 

"  Thank  you,"  said  Godfrey,  taking  off  his  hat  with 
much  politeness.  "If  that  is  so,  I  will  leave  heaven 
to  itself  for  the  present  and  content  myself  with  Gros- 
venor Square." 

Off  he  started  in  the  direction  indicated  and,  as  it 
seemed  to  him,  walked  for  many  miles  through  a  long 
and  bewildering  series  of  brilliant  streets,  continually 
seeking  new  information  as  to  his  goal.  The  end  of 
it  was  that  at  about  a  quarter  to  eleven  he  found  him- 
self somewhere  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Edgware 
Road,  utterly  stranded  as  it  were,  since  his  mind 
seemed  incapable  of  appreciating  further  indications 
of  locality. 

"  Look  here,  young  man,"  said  a  breezy  coster- 
monger  to  whom  he  had  appealed,  "  I  think  you  had 
better  take  a  'ansom  for  the  'orse  will  know  more 
about  London  than  you  seem  to  do.  There's  one 
'andy." 

"  That  is  an  idea,"  said  Godfrey,  and  entered  the 
cab,  giving  the  address  of  Grosvenor  Square. 

"What  number?"  asked  the  driver. 

"I  don't  know,"  replied  Godfrey,  "the  Ball, 
Grosvenor  Square." 


THE  GARDEN  IN  THE  SQUARE    57 

Off  they  went,  and  in  due  course,  reaching  the 
square,  drove  round  it  until  they  came  to  a  great 
house  where  there  were  signs  of  festivity  in  the  shape 
of  an  awning  above  the  entrance  and  a  carpet  on  the 
pavement. 

The  cab  stopped  with  a  jerk  and  a  voice  from 
above — never  having  been  in  a  hansom  before,  at  first 
Godfrey  could  not  locate  it — exclaimed: 

"  Here's  your  Ball,  young  gent.  Now  you'd  better 
hop  out  and  dance." 

His  fare  began  to  explain  the  situation  through  the 
little  trap  in  the  roof,  demonstrating  to  the  Jehu  that 
his  object  was  to  observe  the  ball  from  without,  not 
to  dance  at  it  within,  and  that  it  was  necessary  for 
him  to  drive  on  a  little  further.  That  worthy  grew 
indignant. 

"  Blowed  if  I  don't  believe  you're  a  bilk,"  he  shouted 
through  the  hole.  "  Here,  you  pay  me  my  fare  and 
hook  it,  young  codger." 

Godfrey  descended  and  commenced  a  search  for 
money,  only  to  remember  that  he  had  left  his  purse  in? 
his  bag  at  the  hotel.  This  also  he  explained  with 
many  apologies  to  the  infuriated  cabby,  two  gorgeous 
flunkeys  who  by  now  had  arrived  to  escort  him  into 
the  house,  and  a  group  of  idlers  who  had  collected 
round  the  door. 

"  I  told  yer  he  was  a  bilk.  You  look  after  your 
spoons,  Thomas;  I  expect  that's  wot  he's  come  for. 
Now  you  find  that  bob,  Sonny,  or  I  fetches  the 
perlice." 

Then  an  inspiration  flashed  on  Godfrey's  bewildered 
mind.  Suddenly  he  recollected  that,  by  the  direction 
of  heaven,  Mrs.  Parsons  had  sewn  a  ten  shilling  piece 


58  LOVE  ETERNAL 

into  the  lining  of  his  waistcoat,  "  in  case  he  should 
ever  want  any  money  sudden-like."  He  undid  that 
garment  and  heedless  of  the  mockery  of  the  audience, 
began  to  feel  wildly  at  its  interior  calico.  Joy!  there 
it  was  in  the  lefthand  corner. 

"  I  have  money  here  if  only  I  can  get  it  out,"  he 
gasped. 

A  woman  in  the  gathering  crowd,  perhaps  from 
pity,  or  curiosity,  in  the  most  unexpected  way  pro- 
duced a  pair  of  scissors  from  her  pocket  with  which 
he  began  to  hack  at  the  waistcoat,  gashing  it  sadly. 
At  length  the  job  was  done  and  the  half-sovereign 
appeared  wrapped  in  a  piece  of  cotton  wool. 

"  Take  it,"  said  Godfrey,  "  and  go  away.  Let  it 
teach  you  to  have  more  trust  in  your  fellow  creatures, 
Mr.  Cabman." 

The  man  seized  the  coin,  examined  it  by  the  light 
of  his  lamp,  tasted  it,  bit  it,  threw  it  on  the  top  of  the 
cab  to  see  that  it  rang  true,  then  with  a  "  Well,  I'm 
blowed !  "  whipped  up  his  horse  and  went  off. 

Godfrey  followed  his  example,  as  the  flunkeys  and 
the  audience  supposed  to  recover  his  change,  though 
the  last  thing  he  was  thinking  of  at  that  moment  was 
change — except  of  locality.  He  ran  a  hundred  yards 
or  more  to  a  part  of  the  square  where  there  was  no 
lamp,  then  paused  to  consider. 

"  I  have  made  a  fool  of  myself,"  he  reflected,  "  as 
Isobel  always  says  I  do  when  I  get  the  chance.  I 
have  come  all  this  way  and  been  abused  and  laughed 
at  for  nothing." 

Then  his  native  determination  began  to  assert  itself. 
Why  should  it  be  for  nothing  ?  There  was  the  house, 
and  in  it  was  Isobel,  and  oh!  he  wanted  to  see  her. 


THE  GARDEN  IN  THE  SQUARE    59 

He  crossed  to  the  square-garden  side  and  walked  down 
in  the  shadow  of  the  trees  which  grew  there. 

Under  one  of  these  he  took  his  stand,  squeezing 
himself  against  the  railings,  and  watched  the  glowing 
house  that  was  opposite,  from  which  came  the  sounds 
of  music,  of  dancing  feet,  of  laughter  and  the  tinkling 
of  glasses.  It  had  balconies,  and  on  these  appeared 
people  dressed  in  all  sorts  of  costumes.  Among  them 
he  tried  to  recognize  Isobel,  but  could  not.  Either 
she  did  not  come  or  he  was  too  far  off  to  see  her. 

A  dance  was  ending,  the  music  grew  faster  and 
faster,  then  ceased  with  a  flourish.  More  people  ap- 
peared on  the  balconies.  Others  crowded  into  the 
hall,  which  he  could  see,  for  the  door  was  open. 
Presently  a  pair  came  onto  the  steps.  One  of  them 
was  dressed  as  a  knight  in  shining  armour.  He  was 
a  fine,  tall  young  man,  and  his  face  was  handsome,  as 
the  watcher  could  perceive,  for  he  had  taken  off  his 
plumed  helm  and  carried  it  in  his  hand.  The  other 
was  Isobel  in  her  Plantagenet  costume,  to  which  were 
added  one  rose  and  a  necklet  of  pink  pearls.  They 
stood  on  the  steps  a  little  while  laughing  and  talking. 
Then  he  heard  her  say: 

"  Let  us  go  into  the  square.  It  will  be  cooler.  The 
key  is  hanging  on  the  nail." 

She  vanished  for  a  moment,  doubtless  to  fetch  the 
key.  Then  they  walked  down  the  steps,  over  the 
spread  carpet,  and  across  the  roadway.  Within  three 
paces  of  where  Godfrey  stood  there  was  a  gate.  She 
gave  the  key  to  the  knight,  and  after  one  or  two 
attempts  the  gate  swung  open.  Whilst  he  was  fum- 
bling at  the  lock  she  stood  looking  about  her,  and 
presently  caught  sight  of  Godfrey's  slim  figure 


60  LOVE  ETERNAL 

crouched  against  the  railings  in  the  deepest  of  the 
shadows. 

"  There  is  someone  there,  Lord  Charles,"  she  said. 

"Is  there?"  he  answered,  indifferently,  "A  cab- 
tout  or  a  beggar,  I  expect.  They  always  hang  about 
parties.  Come  on,  it  is  open  at  last." 

They  passed  into  the  garden  and  vanished.  A  wild 
jealousy  seized  Godfrey,  and  he  slipped  after  them 
with  the  intention  of  revealing  himself  to  Isobel. 
Inside  the  railings  was  a  broad  belt  of  shrubs  bordered 
by  a  gravel  path.  The  pair  walked  along  the  path, 
Godfrey  following  at  a  distance,  till  they  came  to  a 
recessed  seat  on  which  they  sat  down.  He  halted 
behind  a  lilac  bush  ten  paces  or  so  away,  not  that  he 
wanted  to  listen,  but  because  he  was  ashamed  to  show 
himself.  Indeed,  he  stopped  his  ears  with  his  fingers 
that  he  might  not  overhear  their  talk.  But  he  did 
not  shut  his  eyes,  and  as  the  path  curved  here  and  the 
moon  shone  on  them,  he  could  see  them  well.  They 
seemed  very  merry  and  to  be  playing  some  game. 

At  any  rate,  first  with  her  finger  she  counted  the 
air-holes  in  the  knight's  helmet  which  he  held  up  to 
her.  Then  with  his  finger  he  counted  the  pearls  upon 
her  neck.  When  he  had  finished  she  clapped  her 
hands  as  though  she  had  won  a  bet.  After  this  they 
began  to  whisper  to  each  other,  at  least  he  whispered 
and  she  smiled  and  shook  her  head.  Finally,  she 
seemed  to  give  way,  for  she  unfastened  the  flower 
which  she  wore  in  the  breast  of  her  dress,  and  pre- 
sented it  to  him.  Godfrey  started  at  the  sight  which 
caused  him  to  take  his  fingers  from  his  ears  and  clutch 
the  bush.  A  dry  twig  broke  with  a  loud  crack. 

"What's  that?"  said  Isobel. 


THE  GARDEN  IN  THE  SQUARE    61 

"  Don't  know,"  answered  Lord  Charles.  "  What 
a  funny  girl  you  are,  always  seeing  and  hearing  things. 
A  stray  cat,  I  expect ;  London  squares  are  full  of  them. 
Now  I  have  won  my  lady's  favour  and  she  must  fasten 
it  to  my  helm  after  the  ancient  fashion." 

"  Can't,"  said  Isobel.  "  There  are  no  pins  in  Plan- 
tagenet  dresses." 

"  Then  I  must  do  it  for  myself.  Kiss  it  first,  that 
was  the  rule,  you  know." 

"  Very  well,"  said  Isobel.  "  We  must  keep  up  the 
game,  and  there  are  worse  things  to  kiss  than  roses." 

He  held  the  flower  to  her  and  she  bent  forward  to 
touch  it  with  her  lips.  Suddenly  he  did  the  same, 
and  their  lips  came  very  close  together  on  either  side 
of  the  rose. 

This  was  too  much  for  Godfrey.  He  glided  for- 
ward, as  the  stray  cat  might  have  done,  of  which  the 
fine  knight  had  spoken,  meaning  to  interrupt  them. 

Then  he  remembered  suddenly  that  he  had  no  right 
to  interfere;  that  it  was  no  affair  of  his  with  whom 
Isobel  chose  to  kiss  roses  in  a  garden,  and  that  he 
was  doing  a  mean  thing  in  spying  upon  her.  So  he 
halted  behind  another  bush,  but  not  without  noise. 
His  handsome  young  face  was  thrust  forward,  and 
on  it  were  written  grief,  surprise  and  shame.  The 
moonlight  caught  it,  but  nothing  else  of  him.  Isobel 
looked  up  and  saw. 

He  knew  that  she  had  seen  and  turning,  slipped 
away  into  the  darkness  back  to  the  gate.  As  he  went 
he  heard  the  knight  called  Lord  Charles,  exclaim : 

"  What's  the  matter  with  you  ?  "  and  Isobel  answer, 
"  Nothing.  I  have  seen  a  ghost,  that's  all.  It's  this 
horrible  dress ! " 


62  LOVE  ETERNAL 

He  glanced  back  and  saw  her  rise,  snatch  the  rose 
from  the  knight's  hand,  throw  it  down  and  stamp 
upon  it.  Then  he  saw  and  heard  no  more  for  he 
was  through  the  gate  and  running  down  the  square. 
At  its  end,  as  he  turned  into  some  street,  he  was  sur- 
prised to  hear  a'  gruff  voice  calling  to  him  to  stop. 
On  looking  up  he  saw  that  it  came  from  his  enemy, 
the  hansom-cab  man,  who  was  apparently  keeping 
a  lookout  on  the  square  from  his  lofty  perch. 

"  Hi !  young  sir,"  he  said,  "  I've  been  watching  for 
you  and  thinking  of  wot  you  said  to  me.  You  gave 
me  half  a  quid,  you  did.  Jump  in  and  I'll  drive  you 
wherever  you  want  to  go,  for  my  fare  was  only  a  bob." 

"  I  have  no  more  money,"  replied  Godfrey,  "  for 
you  kept  the  change." 

"  I  wasn't  asking  for  none,"  said  the  cabby.  "  Hop 
in  and  name  where  it  is  to  be." 

Godfrey  told  him  and  presently  was  being  rattled 
back  to  the  Charing  Cross  Hotel,  which  they  reached 
a  little  later.  He  got  out  of  the  cab  to  go  into  the 
hotel  when  once  again  the  man  addressed  him. 

"  I  owe  you  something,"  he  said,  and  tendered  the 
half-sovereign. 

"  I  have  no  change,"  said  Godfrey. 

"  Nor  'ain't  I,"  said  the  cabman,  "  and  if  I  had  I 
wouldn't  give  it  you.  I  played  a  dirty  trick  on  you 
and  a  dirtier  one  still  when  I  took  your  half  sov,  I 
did,  seeing  that  I  ought  to  have  known  that  you  were 
just  an  obfusticated  youngster  and  no  bilk  as  I  called 
you  to  them  flunkeys.  What  you  said  made  me 
ashamed,  though  I  wouldn't  own  it  before  the  flunkeys. 
So  I  determined  to  pay  you  back  if  I  could,  since 
otherwise  I  shouldn't  have  slept  well  to-night.  Now 


THE  GARDEN  IN  THE  SQUARE    63 

we're  quits,  and  goodbye,  and  do  you  always  think 
kindly  of  Thomas  Sims,  though  I  don't  suppose  I 
shall  drive  you  no  more  in  this  world." 

"  Goodbye,  Mr.  Sims,"  said  Godfrey,  who  was 
touched.  Moreover  Mr.  Sims  seemed  to  be  familiar  to 
him,  at  the  moment  he  could  not  remember  how,  or 
why. 

The  man  wheeled  his  cab  round,  whipping  the  horse 
which  was  a  spirited  animal,  and  started  at  a  fast  pace. 

Godfrey,  looking  after  him,  heard  a  crash  as  he 
emerged  from  the  gates,  and  ran  to  see  what  was  the 
matter.  He  found  the  cab  overturned  and  the  horse 
with  a  'bus  pole  driven  deep  into  its  side,  kicking  on 
the  pavement.  Thomas  Sims  lay  beneath  the  cab. 
When  the  police  and  others  dragged  him  clear,  he 
was  quite  dead! 

Godfrey  went  to  bed  that  night  a  very  weary  and 
chastened  youth,  for  never  before  had  he  experienced 
so  many  emotions  in  a  few  short  hours.  Moreover, 
he  could  not  sleep  well.  Nightmares  haunted  him 
in  which  he  was  being  hunted  and  mocked  by  a  jeer- 
ing crowd,  until  Sims  arrived  and  rescued  him  in  the 
cab.  Only  it  was  the  dead  Sims  that  drove  with 
staring  eyes  and  fallen  jaw,  and  the  side  of  the  horse 
was  torn  open. 

Next  he  saw  Isobel  ^nd  the  Knight  in  Armour, 
who  kept  pace  on  either  side  of  the  ghostly  cab  and 
mocked  at  him,  tossing  roses  to  each  other  as  they  sped 
along,  until  finally  his  father  appeared,  called  Isobel 
a  young  serpent,  at  which  she  laughed  loudly,  and 
bore  off  Sims  to  be  buried  in  the  vault  with  the  Plan- 
tagenet  lady  at  Monk's  Acre. 


64  LOVE  ETERNAL 

Godfrey  woke  up  shaking  with  fear,  wet  with 
perspiration,  and  reflected  earnestly  on  his  latter  end, 
which  seemed  to  be  at  hand.  If  that  great,  burly, 
raucous-voiced  Sims  had  died  so  suddenly,  why  should 
not  he,  Godfrey? 

He  wondered  where  Sims  had  gone  to,  and  what  he 
was  doing  now.  Explaining  the  matter  of  the  half- 
sovereign  to  St.  Peter,  perhaps,  and  hoping  humbly 
that  it  and  others  would  be  overlooked,  "  since  after 
all  he  had  done  the  right  thing  by  the  young  gent." 

Poor  Sims,  he  was  sorry  for  him,  but  it  might  have 
been  worse.  He  might  have  been  in  the  cab  himself 
and  now  be  offering  explanations  of  his  own  as  to  a 
wild  desire  to  kill  that  knight  in  armour,  and  Isobel 
as  well.  Oh!  what  a  fool  he  had  been.  What  busi- 
ness was  it  of  his  if  Isobel  chose  to  give  roses  to  some 
friend  of  hers  at  a  dance?  She  was  not  his  property, 
but  only  a  girl  with  whom  he  chanced  to  have  been 
brought  up,  and  who  found  him  a  pleasant  companion 
when  there  was  no  one  else  at  hand. 

By  nature,  as  has  been  recorded,  Godfrey  was  in- 
tensely proud,  and  then  and  there  he  made  a  resolu- 
tion that  he  would  have  nothing  more  to  do  with 
Isobel.  Never  again  would  he  hang  about  the  skirts 
of  that  fine  and  rich  young  lady,  who  on  the  night 
that  he  was  going  away  could  give  roses  to  another 
man,  just  because  he  was  a  lord  and  good-looking — 
yes  and  kiss  them  too.  His  father  was  quite  right 
about  women,  and  he  would  take  his  advice  to  the 
letter,  and  begin  to  study  Proverbs  forthwith,  espe- 
cially the  marked  passages. 

Having  come  to  this  conclusion,  and  thus  eased 
his  troubled  mind,  he  went  to  sleep  in  good  earnest, 


THE  GARDEN  IN  THE  SQUARE    65 

for  he  was  very  tired.  The  next  thing  of  which  he 
became  aware  was  that  someone  was  hammering  at 
the  door,  and  calling  out  that  a  lady  downstairs  said 
he  must  get  up  at  once  if  he  meant  to  be  in  time.  He 
looked  at  his  watch,  a  seven-and-sixpenny  article  that 
he  had  been  given  off  a  Christmas  tree  at  Hawk's 
Hall,  and  observed,  with  horror,  that  he  had  just  ten 
minutes  in  which  to  dress,  pack,  and  catch  the  train. 
Somehow  he  did  it,  for  fortunately  his  bill  had  been 
paid.  Always  in  after  days  a  tumultuous  vision  re- 
mained in  his  mind  of  himself,  a  long,  lank  youth  with 
unbrushed  hair  and  unbuttoned  waistcoat,  carrying  a 
bag  and  a  coat,  followed  by  an  hotel  porter  with  his 
luggage,  rushing  wildly  down  an  interminable  platform 
with  his  ticket  in  his  teeth  towards  an  already  moving 
train.  At  an  open  carriage  door  stood  a  lady  in  whom 
he  recognized  Miss  Ogilvy,  who  was  imploring  the 
guard  to  hold  the  train. 

"  Can't  do  it,  ma'am,  any  longer,"  said  the  guard, 
between  blasts  of  his  whistle  and  wavings  of  his  green 
flag.  "  It's  all  my  place  is  worth  to  delay  the  Conti- 
nental Express  for  more  than  a  minute.  Thank  you 
kindly,  ma'am.  Here  he  comes,"  and  the  flag  paused 
for  a  few  seconds.  "  In  you  go,  young  gentleman." 

A  heave,  a  struggle,  an  avalanche  of  baggage,  and 
Godfrey  found  himself  in  the  arms  of  Miss  Ogilvy  in 
a  reserved  first-class  carriage.  From  those  kind 
supporting  arms  he  slid  gently  and  slowly  to  the 
floor. 

"  Well,"  said  that  lady,  contemplating  him  with  his 
back  resting  against  a  portmanteau,  "  you  cut  things 
rather  fine." 

Still  seated  on  the  floor,   Godfrey  pulled  out  his 


66  LOVE  ETERNAL 

watch  and  looked  at  it,  then   remarked  that  eleven 
minutes  before  he  was  fast  asleep  in  bed. 

"  I  thought  as  much,"  she  exclaimed  severely,  "and 
that's  why  I  told  the  maid  to  see  if  you  had  been 
called,  which  I  daresay  you  forgot  to  arrange  for 
yourself." 

"  I  did,"  admitted  Godfrey,  rising  and  buttoning 
his  waistcoat.  "  I  have  had  a  very  troubled  night ; 
all  sorts  of  things  happened  to  me." 

"  What  have  you  been  doing?  "  asked  Miss  Ogilvy, 
whose  interest  was  excited. 

Then  Godfrey,  whose  bosom  was  bursting,  told  her 
all,  and  the  story  lasted  most  of  the  way  to  Dover. 

"  You  poor  boy,"  she  said,  when  he  had  finished, 
"  you  poor  boy!  " 

"  I  left  the  basket  with  the  food  behind,  and  I  am 
so  hungry,"  remarked  Godfrey  presently. 

"  There's  a  restaurant  car  on  the  train,  come  and 
have  some  breakfast,"  said  Miss  Ogilvy,  "  for  on  the 
boat  you  may  not  wish  to  eat.  I  shall  at  any  rate." 

This  was  untrue  for  she  had  breakfasted  already, 
but  that  did  not  matter. 

"  My  father  said  I  was  not  to  take  meals  on  the 
trains,"  explained  Godfrey,  awkwardly,  "  because  of 
the  expense." 

"  Oh !  I'm  your  father,  or  rather  your  mother,  now. 
Besides,  I  have  a  table,"  she  added  in  a  nebulous 
manner. 

So  Godfrey  followed  her  to  the  dining  car,  where 
he  made  an  excellent  meal. 

"  You  don't  seem  to  eat  much,"  he  said  at  length. 
"  You  have  only  had  a  cup  of  tea  and  half  a  bit  of 
toast." 


THE  GARDEN  IN  THE  SQUARE    6f 

"  I  never  can  when  I  am  going  on  the  sea,"  she 
explained.  "  I  expect  I  shall  be  very  ill,  and  you  will 
have  to  look  after  me,  and  you  know  the  less  you  eat, 
well — the  less  you  can  be  ill." 

"Why  did  you  not  tell  me  that  before?"  he  re- 
marked, contemplating  his  empty  plate  with  a  gloomy 
eye.  "  Besides  I  expect  we  shall  be  in  different  parts 
of  the  ship." 

"  Oh !  I  daresay  it  can  be  arranged,"  she  answered. 

And  as  a  matter  of  fact,  it  was  "  arranged,"  all  the 
way  to  Lucerne.  At  Dover  station  Miss  Ogilvy  had 
a  hurried  interview  at  the  ticket  office.  Godfrey  did 
not  in  the  least  understand  what  she  was  doing,  but 
as  a  result  he  was  her  companion  throughout  the  long 
journey.  The  crossing  was  very  rough,  and  it  was 
Godfrey  who  was  ill,  excessively  ill,  not  Miss  Ogilvy 
who,  with  the  assistance  of  her  maid  and  the  steward, 
attended  assiduously  to  him  in  his  agonies. 

"  And  to  think,"  he  moaned  faintly  as  they  moored 
alongside  of  the  French  pier,  "  that  once  I  wished  to 
be  a  sailor." 

"  Nelson  was  always  sick,"  said  Miss  Ogilvy,  wiping 
his  damp  brow  with  a  scented  pocket-handkerchief, 
while  the  maid  held  the  smelling-salts  to  his  nose. 

"  Then  he  must  have  been  a  fool  to  go  to  sea," 
muttered  Godfrey,  and  relapsed  into  a  torpor,  from 
which  he  awoke  only  to  find  himself  stretched  at 
length  on  the  cushions  of  a  first-class  carriage. 

Later  on,  the  journey  became  very  agreeable.  God- 
frey was  interested  in  everything,  being  of  a  quick 
and  receptive  mind,  and  Miss  Ogilvy  proved  a  fund 
of  information.  When  they  had  exhausted  the 
scenery  they  conversed  on  other  topics.  Soon  she 


68  LOVE  ETERNAL 

knew  everything  there  was  to  know  about  him  and 
Isobel,  whom  it  was  evident  she  could  not  understand. 

"  Tell  me,"  she  said,  looking  at  his  dark  and  rather 
unusual  eyes,  "  do  you  ever  have  dreams,  Godfrey?  " 
for  now  she  called  him  by  his  Christian  name. 

"  Not  at  night,  when  I  sleep  very  soundly,  except 
after  that  poor  cabman  was  killed.  I  have  seen  lots 
of  dead  people,  because  my  father  always  takes  me 
to  look  at  them  in  the  parish,  to  remind  me  of  my 
own  latter  end,  as  he  says,  but  they  never  made  me 
dream  before." 

"  Then  do  you  have  them  at  all  ?  " 

He  hesitated  a  little. 

"  Sometimes,  at  least  visions  of  a  sort,  when  I  am 
walking  alone,  especially  in  the  evening,  or  wondering 
about  things.  But  always  when  I  am  alone." 

"  What  are  they  ?  "  she  asked  eagerly. 

"  I  can't  quite  explain,"  he  replied  in  a  slow  voice. 
"  They  come  and  they  go,  and  I  forget  them,  because 
they  fade  out,  just  like  a  dream  does,  you  know." 

"You  must  remember  something;  try  to  tell  me 
about  them." 

"  Well,  I  seem  to  be  among  a  great  many  people 
whom  I  have  never  met.  Yet  I  know  them  and  they 
know  me,  and  talk  to  me  about  all  sorts  of  things 
For  instance,  if  I  am  puzzling  over  anything  they  will 
explain  it  quite  clearly,  but  afterwards  I  always  forget 
the  explanation,  and  am  no  wiser  than  I  was  before. 
A  hand  holding  a  cloth  seems  to  wipe  it  out  of  my 
mind,  just  as  one  cleans  a  slate." 

"Is  that  all?" 

"  Not  quite.  Occasionally  I  meet  the  people  after- 
wards. For  instance,  Thomas  Sims,  the  cabman,  was 


THE  GARDEN  IN  THE  SQUARE    69 

one  of  them,  and,"  he  added  colouring,  "  forgive  me 
for  saying  so,  but  you  are  another.  I  knew  it  at 
once,  the  moment  I  saw  you,  and  that  is  what  made 
me  feel  so  friendly." 

"  How  very  odd !  "  she  exclaimed,  "  and  how  de- 
lightful. Because,  you  see — well  never  mind " 

He  looked  at  her  expectantly,  but  as  she  said  no 
more,  went  on. 

"Then  now  and  again  I  see  places  before  I  really 
do  see  them.  For  example,  I  think  that  presently  we 
shall  pass  along  a  hillside  with  great  mountain  slopes 
above  and  below  us  covered  with  dark  trees.  Opposite 
to  us  also,  running  up  to  three  peaks  with  a  patch  of 
snow  on  the  centre  peak,  but  not  quite  at  the  top." 
He  closed  his  eyes,  and  added,  "  Yes,  and  there  is 
a  village  at  the  bottom  of  the  valley  by  a  swift-run- 
ning stream,  and  in  it  a  small  white  church  with  a 
spire  and  a  gilt  weathercock  with  a  bird  on  it.  Then," 
he  continued  rapidly,  "  I  can  see  the  house  where  I 
am  going  to  live,  with  the  Pasteur  Boiset,  an  old 
white  house  with  woods  above  and  all  about  it,  and 
the  beautiful  lake  beneath,  and  beyond,  a  great  moun- 
tain. There  is  a  tree  in  the  garden  opposite  the 
front  door,  like  a  big  cherry  tree,  only  the  fruit  looks 
larger  than  cherries,"  he  added  with  confidence. 

"  I  suppose  that  no  one  showed  you  a  photograph 
of  the  place?  "  she  asked  doubtfully,  "  for  as  it  hap- 
pens I  know  it.  It  is  only  about  two  miles  from 
Lucerne  by  the  short  way  through  the  woods.  What 
is  more,  there  is  a  tree  with  a  delicious  fruit,  either 
a  big  cherry  or  a  small  plum,  for  I  have  eaten  some 
of  it  several  years  ago." 

"  No,"  he  answered,  "  no  one.     My  father  only  told 


70  LOVE  ETERNAL: 

me  that  the  name  of  the  little  village  is  Kleindorf. 
He  wrote  it  on  the  label  for  my  bag." 

Just  then  the  line  went  round  a  bend.  "  Look,"  he 
said,  "  there  is  the  place  I  told  you  we  were  coming 
to,  with  the  dark  trees,  the  three  peaks,  and  the  stream, 
and  the  white  church  with  the  cock  on  the  top  of  the 
spire." 

She  let  down  the  carriage  window,  and  stared  at 
the  scene. 

"  Yes,"  she  exclaimed,  "  it  is  just  as  you  described. 
Oh!  at  last  I  have  found  what  I  have  been  seeking 
for  years.  Godfrey,  I  believe  that  you  have  the  true 
gift." 

"What  gift,  Miss  Ogilvy?" 

"  Clairvoyance,  of  course,  and  perhaps  clairaudi- 
ence  as  well." 

The  lad  burst  out  laughing,  and  said  that  he  wished 
it  were  something  more  useful. 

From  all  of  which  it  will  be  guessed  that  Ethel 
Ogilvy  was  a  mystic  of  the  first  water. 


CHAPTER  V 

MADAME  RIENNES 

ABOUT  ii  o'clock  on  the  day  following  this  conversa- 
tion, Godfrey  found  himself  standing  on  the  platform 
in  the  big  station  of  Lucerne. 

"How  are  you  going  to  get  to  Kleindorf?"  Miss 
Ogilvy  asked  of  him.  "  It's  five  miles  away  by  the 
road.  I  think  you  had  better  come  to  my  house  and 
have  some  dejeuner.  Afterwards  I  will  send  you 
there  in  the  carriage." 

As  she  spoke  a  tall  gaunt  man  in  ultra-clerical 
attire,  with  a  very  large  hooked  nose  and  wearing  a 
pair  of  blue  spectacles,  came  shuffling  towards  them. 

"  Madame  is  Engleesh  ?  "  he  said,  peering  at  her 
through  the  blue  glasses.  "  Oh !  it  is  easy  to  know  it, 
though  I  am  so  blind.  Has  Madame  by  chance  seen 
a  leetle,  leetle  Engleesh  boy,  who  should  arrive  out 
of  this  train?  I  look  everywhere  and  I  cannot  find 
him,  and  the  conducteur,  he  says  he  not  there.  No 
leetle  boy  in  the  second  class.  His  name  it  is  Godfrey, 
the  son  of  an  Engleesh  pasteur,  a  man  who  fear  God 
in  the  right  way." 

There  was  something  so  absurd  in  the  old  gentle- 
man's appearance  and  method  of  address,  that  Miss 
Ogilvy,  who  had  a  sense  of  humour,  was  obliged  to 
turn  away  to  hide  her  mirth.  Recovering,  she 
answered : 

"  I  think  this  is  your  little  boy,  Monsieur  le 

7i 


72  LOVE  ETERNAL 

Pasteur,"  and  she  indicated  the  tall  and  handsome 
Godfrey,  who  stood  gazing  at  his  future  instructor 
open-mouthed.  Whoever  he  had  met  in  his  visions, 
the  Pasteur  Boiset  was  not  one  of  them.  Never, 
asleep  or  waking,  had  he  seen  anyone  in  the  least 
like  him. 

The  clergyman  peered  at  Godfrey,  studying  him 
from  head  to  foot. 

"  Mon  Dieu !  "  he  exclaimed,  "  I  understood  he  was 
quite,  quite  leetle,  not  a  big  young  man  who  will  eat 
much  and  want  many  things.  Well,  he  will  be  bon 
compagnon  for  Juliette,  and  Madame  too,  she  like  the 
big  better  than  the  leetle.  //  est  beau  et  il  a  I'air  in- 
telligent, n'est  ce  pas,  Madame? "  he  added  confi- 
dentially. 

"  Bien  beau  et  tres  intelligent,"  she  replied,  observ- 
ing that  Godfrey  was  engaged  in  retrieving  his  over- 
coat which  he  had  left  in  the  carriage.  Then  she 
explained  that  she  had  become  friendly  with  this 
young  gentleman,  and  hoped  that  he  would  be  allowed 
to  visit  her  whenever  he  wished.  Also  she  gave  her 
name  and  address. 

"  Oh !  yes,  Mademoiselle  Ogilvee,  the  rich  English 
lady  who  live  in  the  fine  house.  I  have  heard  of  her. 
Mais  voyons!  Mademoiselle  is  not  Catholic,  is  she,  for 
I  promise  to  protect  this  lad  from  that  red  wolf?  " 

"  No,  Monsieur,  fear  nothing.  Whatever  I  am,  I 
am  not  Catholic,'"  (though,  perhaps,  if  you  knew  all, 
you  would  think  me  something  much  more  dangerous, 
she  added  to  herself.) 

Then  they  said  goodbye. 

"  I  say,  Miss  Ogilvy,"  exclaimed  Godfrey,  blush- 
ing, "  you've  been  awfully  kind  to  me.  If  it  hadn't 


MADAME  RIENNES  73 

been  for  you  I  should  have  missed  that  train  and 
never  heard  the  last  of  it.  Also,  I  should  have  had 
to  go  hungry  from  London  here,  since  I  promised  my 
father  not  to  buy  anything  on  the  journey,  and  you 
know  I  forgot  the  basket."  (By  the  way,  being  ad- 
dressed, it  arrived  three  days  afterwards,  a  mass  of 
corruption,  with  six  francs  to  pay  on  it,  and  many 
papers  to  be  signed.) 

"  Not  at  all,  Godfrey,  it  was  delightful  to  have 
you  as  a  companion — and  a  friend,"  she  added  mean- 
ingly. "  You  will  come  and  see  me,  won't  you?  " 

"  Yes,  of  course,  if  I  can.  But  meanwhile,  please 
wait  a  minute,"  and  he  pulled  out  his  purse. 

"What  on  earth  are  you  going  to  do,  Godfrey? 
I  don't  want  your  card." 

"  Card !  I  haven't  got  a  card.  I  am  going  to  make 
you  a  present." 

"  Make  me  a  present  ? "  gasped  Miss  Ogilvy,  a 
vague  vision  of  half-crowns  flashing  before  her  mind. 

"  Yes,  it  is  rather  a  curious  thing.  It  was  found 
round  the  neck-bone  of  an  old  knight,  whose  remains 
they  threw  out  of  the  Abbey  Church  when  they  put 
in  the  heating  apparatus.  I  saw  it  there,  and  the 
sexton  gave  it  to  me  when  he  discovered  that  it  was 
only  stone.  You  will  see  it  has  a  hole  in  it,  so  he 
must  have  worn  it  as  an  ornament.  The  grave  he 
lay  in  was  that  of  a  Crusader,  for  the  legs  are  crossed 
upon  his  brass,  although  his  name  has  gone.  Oh ! 
here  it  is,"  and  he  produced  an  oblong  piece  of  black 
graphite  or  some  such  stone,  covered  with  mystical 
engravings. 

She  seized  the  object,  and  examined  it  eagerly. 

"  Why,   it  is  a  talisman,"   she   said,   "  Gnostic,   I 


74  LOVE  ETERNAL 

should  think,  for  there  is  the  cock  upon  it,  and  a  lot 
that  I  can't  read,  probably  a  magic  formula.  No  doubt 
the  old  Crusader  got  it  in  the  East,  perhaps  as  a  gift 
from  some  Saracen  in  whose  family  it  had  descended. 
Oh!  my  dear  boy,  I  do  thank  you.  You  could  not 
have  made  me  a  present  that  I  should  value  more." 

"  I  am  so  glad,"  said  Godfrey. 

"  Yes,  but  I  am  ashamed  to  take  it  from  you.  Well, 
I'll  leave  it  back  to  you  one  day." 

"  Leave  it  back !  Then  you  must  die  before  me, 
and  why  should  you  do  that?  You  are  quite  young." 

"  Because  I  shall,"  she  answered  with  a  sad  little 
smile.  "  I  look  stronger  than  I  am.  Meanwhile  you 
will  come  and  tell  me  all  about  this  talisman." 

"  I  have  told  you  all  I  know,  Miss  Ogilvy." 

"  Do  you  think  so  ?  I  don't.  But  look,  your  old 
pasteur  is  calling  that  the  diligence  is  going.  Good- 
bye. I'll  send  the  carriage  for  you  next  Sunday  in 
time  for  dejeuner" 

A  few  minutes  later  Godfrey  found  himself  packed 
in  a  rumbling  old  diligence  amidst  a  number  of  peasant 
women  with  baskets.  Also,  there  was  a  Roman 
Catholic  priest  who  sat  opposite  to  the  Pasteur.  For 
a  while  these  two  eyed  each  other  with  evident  ani- 
mosity, just  like  a  pair  of  rival  dogs,  Godfrey  thought 
to  himself. 

At  the  outskirts  of  the  town  they  passed  a  shrine, 
in  which  was  the  image  of  some  saint.  The  priest 
crossed  himself  and  bowed  so  low  that  he  struck  the 
knee  of  the  Pasteur,  who  remonstrated  in  an  elaborate 
and  sarcastic  fashion.  Then  the  fight  began,  and 
those  two  holy  men  belaboured  each  other,  with 
words,  not  fists,  for  the  rest  of  the  journey.  God- 


MADAME  RIENNES  75 

frey's  French  was  sadly  to  seek,  still  before  it  was 
done,  he  did  wonder  whether  all  their  language  were 
strictly  Christian,  for  such  words  as  Sapristi,  and 
Nom  de  Dieu,  accompanied  by  snapping  of  the  fingers, 
and  angry  stares,  struck  him  as  showing  a  contentious 
and  even  a  hostile  spirit.  Moreover,  that  was  not 
the  end  of  it,  since  of  the  occupants  of  the  diligence, 
about  one  half  seemed  to  belong  to  the  party  of  the 
priest,  and  the  other  half  to  the  party  of  the  Pasteur. 

By  degrees  all  of  these  were  drawn  into  the  conflict. 
They  shouted  and  screamed  at  each  other,  they  waved 
their  arms,  and  incidentally  their  baskets,  one  of  which 
struck  Godfrey  on  the  nose,  and  indeed  nearly  came 
to  actual  fisticuffs. 

Apparently  the  driver  was  accustomed  to  such 
scenes,  for  after  a  glance  through  his  little  window 
he  took  no  further  notice.  So  it  went  on  until  at 
last  he  pulled  up  and  shouted : 

"  Voyagcurs  pour  Kleindorf,  descendez.  Vite,  s'il 
vous  plait." 

"  Here  we  do  get  down,  young  Monsieur,"  said 
the  Pasteur,  suddenly  relapsing  into  a  kind  of  un- 
natural calm.  Indeed,  at  the  door  he  turned  and 
bowed  politely  to  his  late  adversary,  wishing  him 
bon  voyage,  to  which  the  priest  replied  with  a  solemn 
benediction  in  the  most  Catholic  form. 

"  He  is  not  bad  of  heart,  that  priest,"  said  the 
Pasteur,  as  he  led  the  way  to  the  gate  of  a  little 
shrubbery,  "but  he  do  try  to  steal  my  sheep,  and  I 
protect  them  from  him,  the  ,  blood-toothed  wolf. 
Jean,  Jean !  " 

A  brawny  Swiss  appeared  and  seized  the  baggage. 
Then  they  advanced  across  the  belt  of  shrubbery  to 


76  LOVE  ETERNAL 

a  lawn,  through  which  ran  a  path.  Lo !  in  the  centre 
of  that  lawn  grew  such  a  fruit-tree,  covered  with  large 
cherries  or  small  plums,  as  Godfrey  had  described  to 
Miss  Ogilvy,  and  beyond  it  stood  the  long  white 
house,  old,  and  big,  and  peaceful  looking.  What  he 
had  not  described,  because  of  them  his  subliminal 
sense  had  given  him  no  inkling,  were  the  two  ladies, 
who  sat  expectant  on  the  verandah,  that  commanded 
a  beautiful  view  of  the  lake  and  the  mountains  beyond. 

By  a  kind  of  instinct  distilled  from  his  experience 
of  clergymen's  belongings,  Godfrey  had  expected  to 
see  a  dowdy  female,  with  a  red,  fat  face,  and  watery 
eyes,  perhaps  wearing  an  apron  and  a  black  dress 
hooked  awry,  accompanied  by  a  snub-nosed  little  girl 
with  straight  hair,  and  a  cold  in  the  head.  In  place 
of  these  he  saw  a  fashionably-dressed,  Parisian-look- 
ing lady,  who  still  seemed  quite  young,  very  pleasant 
to  behold,  with  her  dark  eyes  and  graceful  movements, 
and  a  girl,  apparently  about  his  own  age,  who  was 
equally  attractive. 

She  was  brown-eyed,  with  a  quick,  mobile  face, 
and  a  lithe  and  shapely,  if  as  yet  somewhat  unformed 
figure.  The  long  thick  plait  in  which  her  chestnut 
hair  was  arranged  could  not  hide  its  plenitude  and 
beauty,  while  the  smallness  of  her  hands  and  feet 
showed  breeding,  as  did  her  manners  and  presence. 
The  observant  Godfrey,  at  his  first  sight  of  Juliette, 
for  such  was  her  name,  marvelled  how  it  was  possible 
that  she  should  be  the  daughter  of  that  plain  and 
ungainly  old  pasteur.  On  this  point  it  is  enough  to 
say  that  others  had  experienced  the  same  wonder,  and 
remained  with  their  curiosity  unsatisfied.  But  then 
he  might  as  well  have  inquired  how  he,  Godfrey,  came 


MADAME  RIENNES  77 

to  be  his  father's  son,  since  in  the  whole  world  no  two 
creatures  could  have  been  more  diverse. 

Monsieur  Boiset  waddled  forward,  with  a  gait  like 
to  that  of  a  superannuated  duck,  followed  at  some 
distance  by  Godfrey  and  the  stalwart  Jean  with  the 
luggage. 

"  My  dears,"  he  called  out  in  his  high  voice,  "  I 
have  found  our  new  little  friend;  the  train  brought 
him  safely.  Here  he  is." 

Madame  and  Juliette  looked  about  them. 

"  I  see  him  not,"  said  Madame. 

"  Where  is  he?  "  asked  Juliette,  in  a  pleasant  girlish 
voice.  "  Still  at  the  gate?  And  say  then,  my  father," 
this  in  low  tones  meant  not  to  be  overheard,  "  who  is 
this  monsieur?  " 

"  He  is  the  little  boy,"  exclaimed  the  Pasteur, 
chuckling  at  his  joke,  "  but  you  see  he  has  grown 
in  the  train." 

"Man  Dieu!"  exclaimed  Madame,  "I  wonder  if 
his  bed  will  be  long  enough  ?  " 

"  It  is  very  amusing,"  remarked  Juliette. 

Then  they  both  descended  from  the  verandah,  to 
greet  him  with  foreign  cordiality  which,  as  they  spoke 
rapidly  in  French,  was  somewhat  lost  on  Godfrey. 
Recognizing  their  kind  intentions,  however,  he  took 
off  his  hat  and  bowed  to  each  in  turn,  remarking  as 
he  did  so: 

"  Bon  jour,  oui.  Oui,  bonjour,"  the  only  words  in 
the  Gallic  tongue  that  occurred  to  him  at  the  moment. 

"  I  speak  Engleesh,"  said  Juliette,  with  solemn 
grandeur. 

"  I'm  jolly  glad  to  hear  it,"  replied  Godfrey,  "  and 
I  parlc  Frangais,  or  soon  shall,  I  hope." 


78  LOVE  ETERNAL 

Such  was  Godfrey's  introduction  to  his  new  home 
at  Kleindorf,  where  very  soon  he  was  happy  enough. 
Notwithstanding  his  strange  appearance  and  his  awk- 
wardness, Monsieur  Boiset  proved  himself  to  be  what 
is  called  "  a  dear  old  gentleman" ;  moreover,  really 
learned,  and  this  in  sundry  different  directions.  Thus, 
he  was  an  excellent  astronomer,  and  the  possessor  of 
a  first-rate  telescope,  mounted  in  a  little  observatory, 
on  a  rocky  peak  of  ground  which  rose  up  a  hundred 
feet  or  more  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  the 
house,  that  itself  stood  high.  This  instrument,  which 
its  owner  had  acquired  secondhand  at  some  sale,  of 
course  was  not  of  the  largest  size.  Still,  it  was  power- 
ful enough  for  all  ordinary  observations,  and  to  show 
many  hundreds  of  the  heavenly  bodies  that  are  in- 
visible to  the  naked  eye,  even  in  the  clear  air  of 
Switzerland. 

To  Godfrey,  who  had,  it  will  be  remembered,  a 
strong  liking  for  astronomy,  it  was  a  source  of  con- 
stant delight.  What  is  more,  it  provided  a  link  of 
common  interest  that  soon  ripened  into  friendship 
between  himself  and  his  odd  old  tutor,  who  had  been 
obliged  hitherto  to  pursue  his  astral  researches  in 
solitude,  since  to  Madame  and  to  Juliette  these  did 
not  appeal.  Night  by  night,  especially  after  the  win- 
ter snows  began  to  fall,  they  would  sit  by  the  stove 
in  the  little  observatory,  gazing  at  the  stars,  making 
calculations,  in  which,  notwithstanding  his  dislike  of 
abstract  mathematics,  Godfrey  soon  became  expert, 
and  setting  down  the  results  of  what  they  learned. 

It  was  in  course  of  these  studies  that  the  whole 
wonder  of  the  universe  came  home  to  him  for  the 
first  time.  He  looked  upon  the  marvel  of  the  heavens, 


MADAME  RIENNES  79 

the  mighty  procession  of  the  planets,  the  rising  and 
setting  of  the  vast  suns  that  burn  beyond  them  in 
the  depths  of  space,  weighing  their  bulk  and  measur- 
ing their  differences,  and  trembled  with  mingled  joy 
and  awe.  Were  these  the  heritage  of  man?  Would 
he  ever  visit  them  in  some  unknown  state  and  age? 
Or  must  they  remain  eternally  far  and  alien?  This 
is  what  he  longed  to  learn,  and  to  him  astronomy  was 
a  gateway  to  knowledge,  if  only  he  could  discover 
how  to  pass  the  gate. 

Godfrey  had  not  the  true  scientific  spirit,  or  a 
yearning  for  information,  even  about  the  stars,  for  its 
own  sake.  He  wanted  to  ascertain  how  these  affected 
him  and  the  human  race  of  which  he  was  a  member. 
In  short,  he  sought  an  answer  to  the  old  question: 
Are  we  merely  the  spawn  of  our  little  earth,  destined 
to  perish,  as  the  earth  itself  must  do  one  day,  or, 
through  whatever  changes  we  must  pass,  are  we  as 
immortal  as  the  universe  and  the  Might  that  made  it, 
whatever  that  may  be?  That  was  his  problem,  the 
same  which  perplexes  every  high  and  thinking  soul, 
and  at  this  impressionable  period  of  his  life  it  scarcely 
ever  left  him.  There  he  would  sit  with  brooding  eyes 
and  bent  brow  seeking  the  answer,  but  as  yet  finding 
none. 

Once  Juliette  discovered  him  thus,  having  come  to 
the  observatory  to  tell  him  that  his  dinner  had  been 
waiting  for  half  an  hour,  and  for  a  while  watched 
him  unnoted  with  the  little  shaded  lamp  shining  on 
his  face.  Instantly,  in  her  quick  fashion,  she  chris- 
tened him,  Hibou,  and  Hibou  or  Owl,  became  his 
nickname  in  that  establishment.  Indeed,  with  his 
dark  eyes  and  strongly  marked  features,  wrapped  in 


80  LOVE  ETERNAL 

a  contemplative  calm  such  as  the  study  of  stars  en- 
genders, in  that  gloom  he  did  look  something  like  an 
owl,  however  different  may  have  been  his  appearance 
on  other  occasions. 

"What  are  you  thinking  of,  Monsieur  Godfrey?" 
she  asked. 

He  came  back  to  earth  with  a  start. 

"The  stars  and  Man,"  he  answered,  colouring. 

" Mon  Dleul"  she  exclaimed,  "I  think  man  is 
enough  to  study  without  the  stars,  which  we  shall 
never  visit." 

"  How  do  you  know  that,  Mademoiselle  ?  " 

"  I  know  it  because  we  are  here  and  they  are  there, 
far,  far  away.  Also  we  die  and  they  go  on  for 
ever." 

"What  is  space,  and  what  are  death  and  time?" 
queried  Godfrey,  with  solemnity. 

"Mon  Dieu! "  said  Juliette  again.  "  Come  to  din- 
ner, the  chicken  it  grows  cold,"  but  to  herself  she 
added,  "  He  is  an  odd  bird,  this  English  hibou,  but 
attractive — when  he  is  not  so  grave." 

Meanwhile  Godfrey  continued  to  ponder  his  mighty 
problem.  When  he  had  mastered  enough  French  in 
which  Madame  and  Juliette  proved  efficient  in- 
structors, he  propounded  it  to  the  old  Pasteur,  who 
clapped  his  hand  upon  a  Bible,  and  said: 

"  There  is  the  answer,  young  friend." 

"  I  know,"  replied  Godfrey,  "  but  it  does  not  quite 
satisfy;  I  feel  that  I  must  find  that  answer  for  myself." 

Monsieur  Boiset  removed  his  blue  spectacles  and 
looked  at  him. 

"  Such  searches  are  dangerous,"  he  said.  "  Believe 
me,  Godfrey,  it  is  better  to  accept." 


MADAME  RIENNES  81 

"  Then  why  do  you  find  fault  with  the  Roman 
Catholics,  Monsieur?" 

The  question  was  like  a  match  applied  to  a  hay- 
stack. At  once  the  Pasteur  took  fire: 

"  Because  they  accept  error,  not  truth,"  he  began. 
"  What  foundation  have  they  for  much  of  their  belief? 
It  is  not  here,"  and  again  he  slapped  the  Bible. 

Then  followed  a  long  tirade,  for  the  one  thing  this 
good  and  tolerant  old  man  could  not  endure  was  the 
Roman  Catholic  branch  of  the  Christian  Faith. 

Godfrey  listened  with  patience,  till  at  last  the 
Pasteur,  having  burnt  himself  out,  asked  him  if  he 
were  not  convinced. 

"  I  do  not  know,"  he  replied.  "  These  quarrels  of 
the  Churches  and  of  the  different  faiths  puzzle  and 
tire  me.  I,  too,  Monsieur,  believe  in  God  and  a  future 
life,  but  I  do  not  think  it  matters  much  by  what  road 
one  travels  to  them,  I  mean  so  long  as  it  is  a  road." 

The  Pasteur  looked  at  him  alarmed,  and  exclaimed : 

"  Surely  you  will  not  be  a  fish  caught  in  the  net 
which  already  I  have  observed  that  cunning  and 
plausible  cure  trying  to  throw  about  you!  Oh!  what 
then  should  I  answer  to  your  father  ?  " 

"  Do  not  be  frightened,  Monsieur.  I  shall  never 
become  a  Roman  Catholic.  But  all  the  same  I  think 
the  Roman  Catholics  very  good  people,  and  that  their 
faith  is  as  well  as  another,  at  any  rate  for  those  who 
believe  it." 

Then  he  made  an  excuse  to  slip  away,  leaving  the 
Pasteur  puzzled. 

"  He  is  wrong,"  he  said  to  himself,  "  most  wrong, 
but  all  the  same,  let  it  be  admitted  that  the  boy  has  a 
big  mind,  and  intelligent — yes,  intelligent." 


82  LOVE  ETERNAL 

It  is  certain  that  those  who  search  with  sufficient 
earnestness  end  in  rinding  something,  though  the  dis- 
covered path  may  run  in  the  wrong  direction,  or  prove 
impassable,  or  wind  through  caverns,  or  along  the  edge 
of  precipices,  down  which  sooner  or  later  the  traveller 
falls,  or  lead  at  length  to  some  cul-de-sac.  The 
axiom  was  not  varied  in  Godfrey's  case,  and  the  path 
he  found  was  named — Miss  Ogilvy. 

On  the  first  Sunday  after  his  arrival  at  Kleindorf 
a  fine  carriage  and  pair  drew  up  at  the  shrubbery  gate, 
just  as  the  family  were  returning  from  morning  serv- 
ice in  the  little  church  where  the  Pasteur  ministered. 
Madame  sighed  when  she  saw  it,  for  she  would  have 
loved  dearly  to  possess  such  an  equipage,  as  indeed, 
she  had  done  at  one  period  in  her  career,  before  an 
obscure  series  of  circumstances  led  to  her  strange 
union  with  Monsieur  Boiset. 

"  What  beautiful  horses,"  exclaimed  Juliette,  her 
hazel  eyes  sparkling.  "  Oh !  that  tenth  Command- 
ment, who  can  keep  it  ?  And  why  should  some  people 
have  fine  horses  and  others  not  even  a  pony?  Ma 
mere,  why  were  you  not  able  to  keep  that  carriage  of 
which  you  have  spoken  to  me  so  often?" 

Madame  bit  her  lip,  and  with  a  whispered  "  hold 
your  tongue,"  plunged  into  conversation  about  Miss 
Ogilvy.  Then  Godfrey  entered  the  carriage  and  was 
whirled  away  in  style,  looking  like  the  prince  in  a 
fairy  book,  as  Juliette  remarked,  while  the  Pasteur 
tried  to  explain  to  her  how  much  happier  she  was 
without  the  temptation  of  such  earthly  vanities. 

Miss  Ogilvy's  house  was  a  beautiful  dwelling  of 
its  sort,  standing  in  gardens  of  its  own  that  ran  down 
to  the  lake,  and  commanding  fine  views  of  all  the 


MADAME  RIENNES  83 

glorious  scenery  which  surrounds  Lucerne.  The 
rooms  were  large  and  lofty,  with  parquet  floors,  and 
in  some  of  them  were  really  good  pictures  that  their 
owner  had  inherited,  also  collections  of  beautiful  old 
French  furniture.  In  short,  it  was  a  stately  and  re- 
fined abode,  such  as  is  sometimes  to  be  found  abroad 
in  the  possession  of  Americans  or  English  people  of 
wealth,  who  for  their  health's  sake  or  other  reasons, 
make  their  homes  upon  the  Continent. 

On  hearing  the  carriage  arrive,  Miss  Ogilvy,  who 
was  dressed  in  a  simple,  but  charming  grey  gown 
and,  as  Godfrey  noticed  at  once,  wore  round  her  neck 
the  old  Gnostic  talisman  which  he  had  given  her, 
came  from  a  saloon  to  meet  him  in  the  large,  square 
hall. 

"  I  am  glad  to  see  you,  Godfrey,"  she  said  in  her 
soft,  cultivated  voice. 

"  So  am  I,  Miss  Ogilvy,"  he  answered  with  hearti- 
ness, "  I  mean  to  see  you.  But,"  he  added,  studying 
her,  "  you  do  not  look  very  well." 

She  smiled  rather  pathetically,  and  said  in  a  quick 
voice : 

"  No,  I  took  a  cold  on  that  journey.  You  see  I  am 
rather  an  invalid,  which  is  why  I  live  here — while  I 
do  live — what  they  call  poitrinaire." 

Godfrey  shook  his  head,  the  word  was  beyond  him. 

"  Anglice  consumptive,"  she  explained.  "  There  are 
lots  of  us  in  Switzerland,  you  know,  and  on  the  whole, 
we  are  a  merry  set.  It  is  characteristic  of  our  com- 
plaint. But  never  mind  about  me.  There  are  two 
or  three  people  here.  I  daresay  you  will  think  them 
odd,  but  they  are  clever  in  their  way,  and  you  ought 
to  have  something  in  common.  Come  in." 


84  LOVE  ETERNAL 

He  followed  her  into  the  beautiful  cool  saloon,  with 
its  large,  double  French  windows  designed  to  keep  out 
the  bitter  winds  of  winter,  but  opened  now  upon  the 
brilliant  garden.  Never  before  had  he  been  in  so 
lovely  a  room,  that  is  of  a  modern  house,  and  it  im- 
pressed him  with  sensations  that  at  the  moment  he 
did  not  try  to  analyse.  All  he  knew  was  that  they 
were  mingled  with  some  spiritual  quality,  such  as  once 
or  twice  he  had  felt  in  ancient  churches,  something 
which  suggested  both  the  Past  and  the  Future,  and  a 
brooding  influence  that  he  could  not  define.  Yet  the 
place  was  all  light  and  charm,  gay  with  flowers  and 
landscape  pictures,  in  short,  lacking  any  sombre  note. 

Gathered  at  its  far  end  where  the  bow  window  over- 
looked the  sparkling  lake,  were  three  or  four  people, 
all  elderly.  Instantly  one  of  these  riveted  his  atten- 
tion. She  was  stout,  having  her  grey  hair  drawn 
back  from  a  massive  forehead,  beneath  which  shone 
piercing  black  eyes.  Her  rather  ungainly  figure  was 
clothed  in  what  he  thought  an  ugly  green  dress,  and 
she  wore  a  necklet  of  emeralds  in  an  old-fashioned 
setting,  which  he  also  thought  ugly  but  striking.  From 
the  moment  that  he  entered  the  doorway  at  the  far  end 
of  that  long  saloon,  he  felt  those  black  eyes  fixed  upon 
him,  and  was  painfully  aware  of  their  owner's  pres- 
ence, so  much  so,  that  in  a  whisper,  he  asked  her 
name  of  Miss  Ogilvy. 

"  Oh !  "  she  answered,  "  that  is  Madame  Riennes, 
the  noted  mesmerist  and  medium." 

"  Indeed,"  said  Godfrey  in  a  vague  voice,  for  he 
did  not  quite  understand  what  was  meant  by  this 
description. 

Also  there  was  a  thin,  elderly  American  gentleman 


MADAME  RIENNES  8$ 

to  whom  Godfrey  was  introduced,  named  Colonel 
Josiah  Smith,  and  a  big,  blond  Dane,  who  talked 
English  with  a  German  accent,  called  Professor 
Petersen.  All  of  these  studied  Godfrey  with  the  most 
unusual  interest  as,  overwhelmed  with  shyness,  he 
was  led  by  Miss  Ogilvy  to  make  their  acquaintance. 
He  felt  that  their  demeanour  portended  he  knew  not 
what,  more  at  any  rate  than  hope  of  deriving  pleasure 
from  his  society;  in  fact,  that  they  expected  to  get 
something  out  of  him.  Suddenly  he  recollected  a 
picture  that  once  he  had  seen  in  a  pious  work  which 
he  was  given  to  read  on  Sundays.  It  represented  a 
missionary  being  led  by  the  hand  by  a  smiling  woman 
into  the  presence  of  some  savages  in  a  South  Sea 
island,  who  were  about  to  cook  and  eat  him. 

In  the  picture  a  large  pot  was  already  boiling  over 
a  fire  in  the  background.  Instinctively  Godfrey  looked 
for  the  pot,  but  saw  none,  except  one  of  flowers  which 
stood  on  a  little  table  in  a  recess,  and  round  it  half 
a  dozen  chairs,  one  of  them  large,  with  arms.  Had 
he  but  known  it,  that  chair  was  the  pot. 

No  sooner  had  he  made  his  somewhat  awkward  bow 
than  luncheon  was  announced,  and  they  all  went  into 
another  large  and  beautiful  room,  where  they  were 
served  with  a  perfect  meal.  The  conversation  at  table 
was  general,  and  in  English,  but  presently  it  drifted 
into  a  debate  which  Godfrey  did  not  understand,  on 
the  increase  of  spirituality  among  the  "  initiated  "  of 
the  earth. 

Colonel  Josiah  Smith,  who  appeared  to  associate 
with  remarkable  persons  whom  he  called  "  Masters," 
who  dwelt  in  the  remote  places  of  the  world,  alleged 
that  such  increase  was  great,  which  Professor  Peter- 


86  LOVE  ETERNAL 

sen,  who  dwelt  much  among  German  intellectuals, 
denied.  It  appeared  that  these  "  intellectuals  "  were 
busy  in  turning  their  backs  on  every  form  of  spirit- 
uality. 

"  Ah !  "  said  Miss  Ogilvy,  with  a  sigh,  "  they  seek 
the  company  of  their  kindred  '  Elementals,'  although 
they  do  not  know  it,  and  soon  those  Elementals  will 
have  the  mastery  of  them  and  break  them  to  pieces, 
as  the  lions  did  the  maligners  of  Daniel." 

In  after  years  Godfrey  always  remembered  this  as 
a  very  remarkable  prophecy,  but  at  the  time,  not 
knowing  what  an  Elemental  might  be,  he  only 
marvelled. 

At  length  Madame  Riennes,  who,  it  seemed,  was 
half  French  and  half  Russian,  intervened  in  a  slow, 
heavy  voice: 

"  What  does  it  matter,  friends  of  my  soul  ?  "  she 
asked.  Then  having  paused  to  drink  off  a  full  glass 
of  sparkling  Moselle,  she  went  on :  "  Soon  we  shall 
be  where  the  spirituality,  or  otherwise,  of  this  little 
world  matters  nothing  to  us.  Who  will  be  the  first 
to  learn  the  truths,  I  wonder?"  and  she  stared  in 
turn  at  the  faces  of  every  one  of  them,  a  process 
which  seemed  to  cause  general  alarm,  bearing,  as  it 
did,  a  strong  resemblance  to  the  smelling-out  of  savage 
witch-doctors. 

Indeed,  they  all  began  to  talk  of  this  or  that  at 
hazard,  but  she  was  not  to  be  put  off  by  such  inter- 
ruptions. Having  investigated  Godfrey  till  he  felt 
cold  down  the  back,  Madame  turned  her  searchlight 
eyes  upon  Miss  Ogilvy,  who  shrank  beneath  them. 
Then  of  a  sudden  she  exclaimed  with  a  kind  of  con- 
vulsive shudder: 


MADAME  RIENNES  87 

"  The  Power  possesses  and  guides  me.  It  tells  me 
that  you  will  be  the  first,  Sister  Helen.  I  see  you 
among  the  immortal  Lilies  with  the  Wine  of  Life 
flowing  through  your  veins." 

On  receipt  of  this  information  the  Wine  of  Life 
seemed  to  cease  to  flow  in  poor  Miss  Ogilvy's  face. 
At  any  rate,  she  went  deadly  pale  and  rested  her  hand 
upon  Godfrey's  shoulder  as  if  she  were  about  to  faint. 
Recovering  a  little,  she  murmured  to  herself : 

"  I  thought  it !  Well,  what  does  it  matter  though 
the  gulf  is  great  and  terrible?  " 

Then  with  an  effort  she  rose  and  suggested  that 
they  should  return  to  the  drawing-room. 

They  did  so,  and  were  served  with  Turkish  coffee 
and  cigarettes,  which  Madame  Riennes  smoked  one 
after  the  other  very  rapidly.  Presently  Miss  Ogilvy 
rang  the  bell,  and  when  the  butler  appeared  to  remove 
the  cups,  whispered  something  in  French,  at  which 
he  bowed  and  departed. 

Godfrey  thought  he  heard  him  lock  the  door  behind 
him,  but  was  not  sure. 


CHAPTER  VI 

EXPERIENCES 

"  LET  us  sit  round  the  table  and  talk,"  said  Madame 
Riennes. 

Thereon  the  whole  party  moved  into  the  recess 
where  was  the  flower-pot  that  has  been  mentioned, 
which  Miss  Ogilvy  took  away. 

They  seated  themselves  round  the  little  table  upon 
which  it  had  stood.  Godfrey,  lingering  behind,  found, 
whether  by  design  or  accident,  that  the  only  place  left 
for  him  was  the  arm-chair  which  he  hesitated  to 
occupy. 

"  Be  seated,  young  Monsieur,"  said  the  formidable 
Madame  in  bell-like  tones,  whereon  he  collapsed  into 
the  chair.  "  Sister  Helen,"  she  went  on,  "  draw  the 
curtain,  it  is  more  private  so;  yes,  and  the  blind  that 
there  may  be  no  unholy  glare." 

Miss  Ogilvy,  who  seemed  to  be  entirely  under 
Madame's  thumb,  obeyed.  Now  to  all  intents  and 
purposes  they  were  in  a  tiny,  shadowed  room  cut  off 
from  the  main  apartment. 

"  Take  that  talisman  from  your  neck  and  give  it  to 
young  Monsieur  Knight,"  commanded  Madame. 

"  But  I  gave  it  to  her,  and  do  not  want  it  back," 
ventured  Godfrey,  who  was  growing  alarmed. 

"  Do  what  I  say,"  she  said  sternly,  and  he  found 
himself  holding  the  relic. 

"  Now,   young  Monsieur,   look  me   in  the  eyes  a 

88 


EXPERIENCES  89 

little  and  listen.  I  request  of  you  that  holding  that 
black,  engraved  stone  in  your  hand,  you  will  be  so 
good  as  to  throw  your  soul,  do  your  understand,  your 
soul,  back,  back,  back  and  tell  us  where  it  come  from, 
who  have  it,  what  part  it  play  in  their  life,  and  every- 
thing about  it." 

"How  am  I  to  know?"  asked  Godfrey,  with 
indignation. 

Then  suddenly  everything  before  him  faded,  and 
he  saw  himself  standing  in  a  desert  by  a  lump  of 
black  rock,  at  which  a  brown  man  clad  only  in  a  waist 
cloth  and  a  kind  of  peaked  straw  hat,  was  striking 
with  an  instrument  that  seemed  to  be  half  chisel  and 
half  hammer,  fashioned  apparently  from  bronze,  or 
perhaps  of  greenish-coloured  flint.  Presently  the 
brown  man,  who  had  a  squint  in  one  eye  and  a  hurt 
toe  that  was  bound  round  with  something,  picked  up 
a  piece  of  the  black  rock  that  he  had  knocked  off, 
and  surveyed  it  with  evident  satisfaction.  Then  the 
scene  vanished. 

Godfrey  told  it  with  interest  to  the  audience  who 
were  apparently  also  interested. 

"  The  finding  of  the  stone,"  said  Madame.  "  Con- 
tinue, young  Monsieur." 

Another  vision  rose  before  Godfrey's  mind.  He 
beheld  a  low  room  having  a  kind  of  verandah,  roofed 
with  reeds,  and  beyond  it  a  little  courtyard  enclosed 
by  a  wall  of  grey-coloured  mud  bricks,  out  of  some 
of  which  stuck  pieces  of  straw.  This  courtyard 
opened  onto  a  narrow  street  where  many  oddly-clothed 
people  walked  up  and  down,  some  of  whom  wore 
peaked  caps.  A  little  man,  old  and  grey,  sat  with 
the  fragment  of  black  rock  on  a  low  table  before  him, 


9o  LOVE  ETERNAL 

which  Godfrey  knew  to  be  the  same  stone  that  he  had 
already  seen.  By  him  lay  graving  tools,  and  he  was 
engaged  in  polishing  the  stone,  now  covered  with 
figures  and  writing,  by  help  of  a  stick,  a  piece  of 
rough  cloth  and  oil.  A  young  man  with  a  curly  beard 
walked  into  the  little  courtyard,  and  to  him  the  old 
fellow  delivered  the  engraved  stone  with  obeisances, 
receiving  payment  in  some  curious  currency. 

Then  followed  picture  upon  picture  in  all  of  which 
this  talisman  appeared  in  the  hands  of  sundry  of  its 
owners.  Some  of  these  pictures  had  to  do  with  love, 
some  with  religious  ceremonies,  and  some  with  war. 
One,  too,  with  its  sale,  perhaps  in  a  time  of  siege  or 
scarcity,  for  a  small  loaf  of  black-looking  bread,  by 
an  aged  woman  who  wept  at  parting  with  it. 

After  this  he  saw  an  Arab-looking  man  rinding  the 
stone  amongst  the  crumbling  remains  of  a  brick  wall 
that  showed  signs  of  having  been  burnt,  which  wall 
he  was  knocking  down  with  a  pick-axe  to  allow  water 
to  flow  down  an  irrigation  channel  on  to  his  garden. 
Presently  a  person  who  wore  a  turban  and  was  girt 
about  with  a  large  scimitar,  rode  by,  and  to  him  the 
man  showed,  and  finally  presented  the  stone,  which 
the  Saracen  placed  in  the  folds  of  his  turban. 

The  next  scene  was  of  this  man  engaged  in  battle 
with  a  knight  clad  in  mail.  The  battle  was  a  very 
fine  one,  which  Godfrey  described  with  much  gusto. 
It  ended  in  the  knight  killing  the  Eastern  man  and 
hacking  off  his  head  with  a  sword.  This  violent  pro- 
ceeding disarranged  the  turban  out  of  which  fell  the 
black  stone.  The  knight  picked  it  up  and  hid  it  about 
him.  Next  Godfrey  saw  this  same  knight,  grown 
into  an  old  man  and  being  borne  on  a  bier  to  burial, 


EXPERIENCES  91 

clad  in  the  same  armour  that  he  had  worn  in  the  battle. 
Upon  his  breast  hung  the  black  stone  which  had  now 
a  hole  bored  through  the  top  of  it. 

Lastly  there  came  a  picture  of  the  old  sexton  finding 
the  talisman  among  the  bones  of  the  knight,  and  giving 
it  to  himself,  Godfrey,  then  a  small  boy,  after  which 
everything  passed  away. 

"  I  guess  that  either  our  young  friend  here  has  got 
the  vision,  or  that  he  will  make  a  first-class  novelist," 
said  Colonel  Josiah  Smith.  "  Any  way,  if  you  care 
to  part  with  that  talisman,  Miss  Ogilvy,  I  will  be  glad 
to  give  you  five  hundred  dollars  for  it  on  the  chance 
of  his  integrity." 

She  smiled  and  shook  her  head,  stretching  out  her 
hand  to  recover  the  Gnostic  charm. 

"  Be  silent,  Brother  Josiah  Smith,"  exclaimed 
Madame  Riennes,  angrily.  "If  this  were  imposture, 
should  I  not  have  discovered  it?  It  is  good  vision— 
psychometry  is  the  right  term — though  of  a  humbler 
order  such  as  might  be  expected  from  a  beginner. 
Still,  there  is  hope,  there  is  hope.  Let  us  see,  now. 
Young  gentleman,  be  so  good  as  to  look  me  in  the 
eye." 

Much  against  his  will  Godfrey  found  himself  bound 
to  obey,  and  looked  her  "  in  the  eye."  A  few  mo- 
ments later  he  felt  dizzy,  and  after  that  he  remembered 
no  more. 

When  Godfrey  awoke  again  the  curtain  was  drawn, 
the  blinds  were  pulled  up  and  the  butler  was  bringing 
in  tea.  Miss  Ogilvy  sat  by  his  side,  looking  at  him 
rather  anxiously,  while  the  others  were  conversing 
together  in  a  somewhat  excited  fashion. 

"  It  is  splendid,  splendid !  "  Madame  was  saying. 


92  LOVE  ETERNAL 

"We  have  discovered  a  pearl  beyond  price,  a  great 
treasure.  Hush!  he  awakes." 

Godfrey,  who  experienced  a  curious  feeling  of  ex- 
haustion and  of  emptiness  of  brain,  ylawned  and 
apologized  for  having  fallen  asleep,  whereon  the 
professor  and  the  colonel  both  assured  him  that  it  was 
quite  natural  on  so  warm  a  day.  Only  Madame 
Riennes  smiled  like  a  sphinx,  and  asked  him  if  his 
dreams  were  pleasant.  To  this  he  replied  that  he 
remembered  none. 

Miss  Ogilvy,  however,  who  looked  rather  anxious 
and  guilty,  did  not  speak  at  all,  but  busied  herself  with 
the  tea  which  Godfrey  thought  very  strong  when  he 
drank  it.  However,  it  refreshed  him  wonderfully, 
which,  as  it  contained  some  invigorating  essence,  was 
not  strange.  So  did  the  walk  in  the  beautiful  garden 
which  he  took  afterwards,  just  before  the  carriage 
came  to  drive  him  back  to  Kleindorf. 

Re-entering  the  drawing-room  to  say  goodbye,  he 
found  the  party  engaged  listening  to  the  contents  of  a 
number  of  sheets  of  paper  closely  written  in  pencil, 
which  were  being  read  to  them  by  Colonel  Josiah 
Smith,  who  made  corrections  from  time  to  time. 

"  Au  revoir,  my  young  brother,"  said  Madame 
Riennes,  making  some  mysterious  sign  before  she  took 
his  hand  in  her  fat,  cold  fingers,  "  you  will  come  again 
next  Sunday,  will  you  not  ?  " 

"  I  don't  know,"  he  answered  awkwardly,  for  he 
felt  afraid  of  this  lady,  and  did  not  wish  to  see  her 
next  Sunday. 

"  Oh !  but  I  do,  young  brother.  You  will  come, 
because  it  gives  me  so  much  pleasure  to  see  you,"  she 
replied,  staring  at  him  with  her  strange  eyes. 


EXPERIENCES  93 

Then  Godfrey  knew  that  he  would  come  because  he 
must. 

"  Why  does  that  lady  call  me  '  young  brother  '  ?  " 
he  asked  Miss  Ogilvy,  who  accompanied  him  to  the 
hall. 

"  Oh !  because  it  is  a  way  she  has.  You  may  have 
noticed  that  she  called  me  '  sister'." 

"  I  don't  think  that  I  shall  call  her  sister,"  he  re- 
marked with  decision.  "  She  is  too  alarming." 

"  Not  really  when  you  come  to  know  her,  for  she 
has  the  kindest  heart  and  is  wonderfully  gifted." 

"  Gifts  which  make  people  tell  others  that  they  are 
going  to  die  are  not  pleasant,  Miss  Ogilvy." 

She  shivered  a  little. 

"If  her  spirit — I  mean  the  truth — comes  to  her,  she 
must  speak  it,  I  suppose.  By  the  way,  Godfrey,  don't 
say  anything  about  this  talisman  and  the  story  you  told 
of  it,  at  Kleindorf,  or  in  writing  home." 

"Why  not?" 

"  Oh !  because  people  like  your  dear  old  Pasteur,  and 
clergymen  generally,  are  so  apt  to  misunderstand. 
They  think  that  there  is  only  one  way  of  learning 
things  beyond,  and  that  every  other  must  be  wrong. 
Also  I  am  sure  that  your  friend,  Isobel  Blake,  would 
laugh  at  you." 

"  I  don't  write  to  Isobel,"  he  exclaimed  setting  his 
lips. 

"  But  you  may  later,"  she  said  smiling.  "  At  any 
rate  you  will  promise,  won't  you?" 

"  Yes,  if  you  wish  it,  Miss  Ogilvy,  though  I  can't 
see  what  it  matters.  That  kind  of  nonsense  often 
comes  into  my  head  when  I  touch  old  things.  Isobel 
says  that  it  is  because  I  have  too  much  imagination." 


94  LOVE  ETERNAL 

"  Imagination !  Ah !  what  is  imagination  ?  Well, 
goodbye,  Godfrey,  the  carriage  will  come  for  you  at 
the  same  time  next  Sunday.  Perhaps,  too,  I  shall 
see  you  before  then,  as  I  am  going  to  call  upon 
Madame  Boiset." 

Then  he  went,  feeling  rather  uncomfortable,  and  yet 
interested,  though  what  it  was  that  interested  him  he 
did  not  quite  know.  That  night  he  dreamed  that 
Madame  Riennes  stood  by  his  bed  watching  him  with 
her  burning  eyes.  It  was  an  unpleasant  dream. 

He  kept  his  word.  When  the  Boiset  family,  es- 
pecially Madame,  cross-examined  him  as  to  the  de- 
tails of  his  visit  to  Miss  Ogilvy,  he  merely  described 
the  splendours  of  that  opulent  establishment  and  the 
intellectual  character  of  its  guests.  Of  their  mystic 
attributes  he  said  nothing  at  all,  only  adding  that  Miss 
Ogilvy  proposed  to  do  herself  the  honour  of  calling 
at  the  Maison  Blanche,  as  the  Boisets'  house  was 
called. 

Madame  was  distinctly  pleased.  She  had  reasons  of 
her  own  for  wishing  to  be  recognized,  and  because  of 
her  wealth  and  many  benefactions,  Miss  Ogilvy  had  a 
wide  local  reputation.  Still,  being  a  shrewd  woman, 
she  was  well  aware  that  she  owed  this  honour,  for  so 
she  considered  it,  to  Godfrey,  which  caused  her  ap- 
preciation of  him  to  increase. 

About  the  middle  of  the  week  Miss  Ogilvy  arrived 
and,  as  Madame  had  taken  care  to  be  at  home  in  ex- 
pectation of  her  visit,  was  entertained  to  tea.  After- 
wards she  visited  the  observatory,  which  interested 
her  much,  and  had  a  long  talk  with  the  curious  old 
Pasteur,  who  also  interested  her  in  his  way,  for  as  she 
afterwards  remarked  to  Godfrey,  one  does  not  often 


EXPERIENCES  95 

meet  an  embodiment  of  human  goodness  and  charity. 
When  he  replied  that  the  latter  quality  was  lacking 
to  the  Pasteur  where  Roman  Catholics  were  concerned, 
she  only  smiled  and  said  that  every  jewel  had  its  flaw; 
nothing  was  quite  perfect  in  the  world. 

In  the  end  she  asked  Madame  and  Juliette  to  come 
to  lunch  with  her,  leaving  out  Godfrey,  because,  as  she 
said,  she  knew  that  he  would  be  engaged  at  his  studies 
with  the  Pasteur.  She  explained  also  that  she  did  not 
ask  them  to  come  with  him  on  Sunday  because  they 
would  be  taken  up  with  their  religious  duties,  a  re- 
mark at  which  Juliette  made  what  the  French  call  a 
"  mouth,"  and  Madame  smiled  faintly. 

In  due  course  she  and  her  daughter  went  to  lunch 
and  returned  delighted,  having  found  themselves  fel- 
low-guests of  some  of  the  most  notable  people  in  Lu- 
cerne, though  not  those  whom  Miss  Ogilvy  entertained 
on  Sundays.  Needless  to  say  from  that  time  forward 
Godfrey's  intimacy  with  this  charming  and  wealthy 
hostess  was  in  every  way  encouraged  by  the  Boiset 
family. 

The  course  of  this  intimacy  does  not  need  any  very 
long  description.  Every  Sunday  after  church  the  well- 
appointed  carriage  and  pair  appeared  and  bore  Godfrey 
away  to  luncheon  at  the  Villa  Ogilvy.  Here  he  always 
met  Madame  Riennes,  Colonel  Josiah  Smith,  and  Pro- 
fessor Petersen;  also  occasionally  one  or  two  others 
with  whom  these  seemed  to  be  sufficiently  intimate  to 
admit  of  their  addressing  them  as  "  Brother  "  or  "  Sis- 
ter." 

Soon  Godfrey  came  to  understand  that  they  were  all 
members  of  some  kind  of  semi-secret  society,  though 
what  this  might  be  he  could  not  quite  ascertain.  All 


96  LOVE  ETERNAL 

he  made  sure  of  was  that  it  had  to  do  with  matters 
which  were  not  of  this  world.  Nothing  concerning 
mundane  affairs,  however  important  or  interesting, 
seemed  to  appeal  to  them;  all  their  conversation  was 
directed  towards  what  might  be  called  spiritual  prob- 
lems, reincarnations,  Karmas  (it  took  him  a  long 
time  to  understand  what  a  Karma  is),  astral  shapes, 
mediumship,  telepathic  influences,  celestial  guides,  and 
the  rest. 

At  first  this  talk  with  its  jargon  of  words  which  he 
did  not  comprehend,  bored  him  considerably,  but  by 
degrees  he  felt  that  he  was  being  drawn  into  a  vortex, 
and  began  to  understand  its  drift.  Even  while  it  was 
enigmatic  it  acquired  a  kind  of  unholy  attraction  for 
him,  and  he  began  to  seek  out  its  secret  meaning  in 
which  he  found  that  company  ready  instructors. 

"  Young  brother,"  said  Madame  Riennes,  "  we  deal 
with  the  things  not  of  the  body,  but  of  the  soul.  The 
body,  what  is  it?  In  a  few  years  it  will  be  dust  and 
ashes,  but  the  soul — it  is  eternal — and  all  those  stars 
you  study  are  its  inheritance,  and  you  and  I,  if  we 
cultivate  our  spiritual  parts,  shall  rule  in  them." 

Then  she  would  roll  her  big  eyes  and  become  in  a 
way  magnificent,  so  that  Godfrey  forgot  her  ugliness 
and  the  repulsion  with  which  she  inspired  him. 

In  the  end  his  outlook  on  life  and  the  world  became 
different,  and  this  not  so  much  because  of  what  he 
learned  from  his  esoteric  teachers,  as  through  some 
change  in  his  internal  self.  He  grew  to  appreciate  the 
vastness  of  things  and  the  infinite  possibilities  of  exist- 
ence. Indeed,  his  spiritual  education  was  a  fitting 
pendant  to  his  physical  study  of  the  heavens,  peopled 
with  unnumbered  worlds,  each  of  them  the  home, 


EXPERIENCES  97 

doubtless,  of  an  infinite  variety  of  life,  and  each  of 
them  keeping  its  awful  secrets  locked  in  its  floating 
orb.  He  trembled  in  presence  of  the  stupendous 
Whole,  of  which  thus  by  degrees  he  became  aware, 
and  though  it  frightened  him,  thought  with  pity  of  the 
busy  millions  of  mankind  to  whom  such  mysteries  are 
nothing  at  all;  who  are  lost  in  their  business  or  idle- 
ness, in  their  eating,  drinking,  sleeping,  love-making, 
and  general  satisfaction  of  the  instincts  which  they 
possess  in  common  with  every  other  animal.  The 
yearning  for  wisdom,  the  desire  to  know,  entered  his 
young  heart  and  possessed  it,  as  once  these  did  that 
of  Solomon,  to  such  a  degree  indeed,  that  standing  on 
the  threshold  of  his  days,  he  would  have  paid  them 
all  away,  and  with  them  his  share  in  this  warm  and 
breathing  world,  could  he  have  been  assured  that  in 
exchange  he  would  receive  the  key  of  the  treasure- 
house  of  the  Infinite. 

Such  an  attitude  was  neither  healthy  nor  natural  to 
a  normal,  vigorous  lad  just  entering  upon  manhood, 
and,  as  will  be  seen,  it  did  not  endure.  Like 
everything  else,  it  had  its  causes.  His  astronom- 
ical studies  were  one  of  these,  but  a  deeper  reason 
was  to  be  found  in  those  Sunday  seances  at  the  Villa 
Ogilvy.  For  a  long  while  Godfrey  did  not  know  what 
happened  to  him  on  these  occasions.  The  party  sat 
round  the  little  table,  talking  of  wonderful  things; 
Madame  Riennes  looked  at  him  and  sometimes  took 
his  hand,  which  he  did  not  like,  and  then  he  remem- 
bered no  more  until  he  woke  up,  feeling  tired,  and  yet 
in  a  way  exhilarated,  for  with  the  mysteries  of  hyp- 
notic sleep  he  was  not  yet  acquainted.  Nor  did  it  oc- 
cur to  him  that  he  was  being  used  as  a  medium  by 


98  LOVE  ETERNAL 

certain  of  the  most  advanced  spiritualists  in  the 
world. 

By  degrees,  however,  inklings  of  the  truth  began  to 
come.  Thus,  one  day  his  consciousness  awoke  while 
his  body  seemed  still  to  be  wrapt  in  trance,  and  he  saw 
that  there  was  a  person  present  who  had  not  been  of 
the  party  when  he  went  to  sleep.  A  young  woman, 
clad  in  a  white  robe,  with  lovely  hair  flowing  down  her 
back,  stood  by  his  side  and  held  his  supine  fingers  in 
her  hand. 

She  was  beautiful,  and  yet  unearthly,  she  wore  orna- 
ments also,  but  as  he  watched,  to  his  amazement  these 
seemed  to  change.  What  had  been  a  fillet  of  white 
stones,  like  diamonds,  which  bound  her  hair,  turned  to 
one  of  red  stones,  like  rubies,  and  as  it  did  so  the 
colour  of  her  eyes,  which  were  large  and  very  tranquil, 
altered. 

She  was  speaking  in  a  low,  rich  voice  to  Miss  Ogilvy, 
who  answered,  addressing  her  as  Sister  Eleanor,  but 
what  she  said  Godfrey  could  not  understand.  Some- 
thing of  his  inner  shock  and  fear  must  have  reflected 
itself  upon  his  trance-bound  features,  for  suddenly  he 
heard  Madame  Riennes  exclaim: 

"  Have  done !  the  medium  wakes,  and  I  tell  you  it 
is  dangerous  while  our  Guide  is  here.  Back  to  his 
breast,  Eleanor !  Thence  to  your  place !  " 

The  tall  figure  changed ;  it  became  misty,  shapeless. 
It  seemed  to  fall  on  him  like  a  cloud  of  icy  vapour, 
chilling  him  to  the  heart,  and  through  that  vapour  he 
could  see  the  ormolu  clock  which  stood  on  a  bracket  in 
the  recess,  and  even  note  the  time,  which  was  thirteen 
minutes  past  four.  After  this  he  became  unconscious, 
and  in  due  course  woke  up  as  usual.  The  first  thing 


EXPERIENCES  99 

his  eyes  fell  on  was  the  clock,  of  which  the  hands 
now  pointed  to  a  quarter  to  five,  and  the  sight  of  it 
brought  everything  back  to  him.  Then  he  observed 
that  all  the  circle  seemed  much  agitated,  and  distinctly 
heard  Madame  Riennes  say  to  Professor  Petersen  in 
English : 

"  The  thing  was  very  near.  Had  it  not  been  for  that 

medicine  of  yours !  It  was  because  that  speerit 

do  take  his  hand.  She  grow  fond  of  him;  it  happen 
sometimes  if  the  medium  be  of  the  other  sex  and  at- 
tractive. She  want  to  carry  him  away  with  her,  that 
Control,  and  I  expect  she  never  quite  leave  him  all  his 
life,  because,  you  see,  she  materialize  out  of  him,  and 
therefore  belong  to  him.  Next  time  she  come,  I  give 
her  my  mind.  Hush!  Our  wonderful  little  brother 
wake  up — quite  right  this  time." 

Then  Godfrey  really  opened  his  eyes;  hitherto  he 
had  been  feigning  to  be  still  in  trance,  but  thought  it 
wisest  to  say  nothing.  At  this  moment  Miss  Ogilvy 
turned  very  pale  and  went  into  a  kind  of  light  faint. 

The  Professor  produced  some  kind  of  smelling- 
bottle  from  his  pocket,  which  he  held  to  her  nostrils. 
She  came  to  at  once,  and  began  to  laugh  at  her  own 
silliness,  but  begged  them  all  to  go  away  and  leave 
her  quiet,  which  they  did.  Godfrey  was  going  too, 
but  she  stopped  him,  saying  that  the  carriage  would 
not  be  ready  till  after  tea,  and  that  it  was  too  wet  for 
him  to  walk  in  the  garden,  for  now  autumn  had  come 
in  earnest.  The  tea  arrived,  a  substantial  tea,  with 
poached  eggs,  of  which  she  made  him  eat  two,  as  she 
did  always  after  these  sittings.  Then  suddenly  she 
asked  him  if  he  had  seen  anything.  He  told  her  all, 
adding : 


ioo  LOVE  ETERNAL 

"  I  am  frightened.  I  do  not  like  this  business,  Miss 
Ogilvy.  Who  and  what  was  that  lady  in  white,  who 
stood  by  me  and  held  my  hand?  My  fingers  are 
still  tingling,  and  a  cold  wind  seems  to  blow  upon 
me." 

"  It  was  a  spirit,  Godfrey,  but  there  is  no  need  to  be 
afraid,  she  will  not  do  you  any  harm." 

"  I  don't  know,  and  I  don't  think  that  you  have 
any  right  to  bring  spirits  to  me,  or  out  of  me,  as  I 
heard  that  dreadful  Madame  say  had  happened.  It  is 
a  great  liberty." 

"  Oh !  don't  be  angry  with  me,"  she  said  piteously. 
"  If  only  you  understood  You  are  a  wonderful 
medium,  the  most  wonderful  that  any  of  us  has  ever 
known,  and  through  you  we  have  learned  things ;  holy, 
marvellous  things,  which  till  now  have  not  been  heard 
of  in  the  world.  Your  fame  is  already  great  among 
leading  spiritualists  of  the  earth,  though  of  course  they 
do  not  know  who  you  are." 

"  That  does  not  better  matters,"  said  Godfrey,  "  you 
know  it  is  not  right." 

"  Perhaps  not,  but  my  dear  boy,  if  only  you  guessed 
all  it  means  to  me!  Listen;  I  will  tell  you;  you  will 
not  betray  me,  will  you?  Once  I  was  very  fond  of 
someone;  he  was  all  my  life,  and  he  died,  and  my 
heart  broke.  I  only  hope  and  pray  that  such  a  thing 
may  never  happen  to  you.  Well,  from  that  hour  to 
this  I  have  been  trying  to  find  him  and  failed,  always 

failed,  though  once  or  twice  I  thought .  And  now 

through  you  I  have  found  him.  Yes,  he  has  spoken 
to  me  telling  me  much  which  proves  to  me  that  he 
still  lives  elsewhere  and  awaits  me.  And  oh!  I  am 
happy,  and  do  not  care  how  soon  I  go  to  join  him. 


EXPERIENCES  101 

And  it  is  all  through  you.     So  you  will  forgive  me, 
will  you  not?  " 

"  Yes,  I  suppose  so,"  said  Godfrey,  "  but  all  the 
same  I  don't  want  to  have  anything  more  to  do  with 
that  white  lady  who  is  called  Eleanor  and  changes 
her  jewels  so  often;  especially  as  Madame  said  she 
was  growing  fond  of  me  and  would  never,  leave 
me.  So  please  don't  ask  me  here  again  on  Sun- 
days." 

Miss  Ogilvy  tried  to  soothe  him. 

"  You  shouldn't  be  frightened  of  her,"  she  said. 
"  She  is  really  a  delightful  spirit,  and  declares  that  she 
knew  you  very  intimately  indeed,  when  you  were  an 
early  Egyptian,  also  much  before  that  on  the  lost  con- 
tinent, which  is  called  Atlantis,  to  say  nothing  of  deep 
friendships  which  have  existed  between  you  in  other 
planets." 

"  I  say !  "  exclaimed  Godfrey,  "  do  you  believe  all 
this?" 

"  Well,  if  you  ask  me,  I  must  say  that  I  do.  I  am 
sure  that  we  have  all  of  us  lived  many  lives,  here  and 
elsewhere,  and  if  this  is  so,  it  is  obvious  that  in  the 
course  of  them  we  must  have  met  an  enormous  number 
of  people,  with  certain  of  whom  we  have  been  closely 
associated  in  the  various  relationships  of  life.  Some 
of  these,  no  doubt,  come  round  with  us  again,  but 
others  do  not,  though  we  can  get  into  touch  with  them 
under  exceptional  circumstances.  That  is  your  case 
and  Eleanor's.  At  present  you  are  upon  different 
spheres,  but  in  the  future,  no  doubt,  you  will  find 
yourselves  side  by  side  again,  as  you  have  often  been, 
in  due  course  to  be  driven  apart  once  more  by  the 
winds  of  Destiny,  and  perhaps,  after  ages,  finally  to 


102  LOVE  ETERNAL 

be  united.  Meanwhile  she  plays  the  part  of  one  of 
your  guardian  angels." 

"  Then  I  wish  she  wouldn't,"  said  Godfrey,  with 
vigour.  "  I  don't  care  for  a  guardian  angel  of  whom  I 
have  no  memory,  and  who  seems  to  fall  on  you  like 
snow  upon  a  hot  day.  If  anybody  does  that  kind  of 
thing  I  should  prefer  a  living  woman." 

"  Which  doubtless  she  has  been,  and  will  be  again. 
For  you  see,  where  she  is,  she  has  memory  and  fore- 
knowledge, which  are  lacking  to  the  incarnated. 
Meanwhile,  through  you,  and  because  of  you,  she  can 
tell  us  much.  You  are  the  wire  which  connects  us  to 
her  in  the  Unseen." 

"  Then  I  hope  you  will  find  another  wire ;  I  really 
do,  for  it  upsets  me  and  makes  me  feel  ill.  I  know 
that  I  shall  be  afraid  to  go  to  bed  to-night,  and  even 
for  you,  Miss  Ogilvy,  I  won't  come  next  Sunday." 

Then,  as  the  carriage  was  now  at  the  door,  he 
jumped  into  it  and  departed  without  waiting  for  an 
answer. 

Moreover,  on  the  next  Sunday,  when,  as  usual,  it 
arrived  to  fetch  him  at  Kleindorf,  Godfrey  kept  his 
word,  so  that  it  went  back  empty.  By  the  coachman 
he  sent  an  awkwardly  worded  note  to  Miss  Ogilvy, 
saying  that  he  was  suffering  from  toothache  which 
had  prevented  him  from  sleeping  for  several  nights, 
and  was  not  well  enough  to  come  out. 

This  note  she  answered  by  post,  telling  him  that  she 
had  been  disappointed  not  to  see  him  as  she  was  also 
ill.  She  added  that  she  would  send  the  carriage  on 
the  following  Sunday  on  the  chance  of  his  toothache 
being  better,  but  that  if  it  was  not,  she  would  under- 
stand and  trouble  him  no  more. 


EXPERIENCES  103 

During  all  that  week  Godfrey  fought  with  himself. 
He  did  not  wish  to  have  anything  more  to  do  with  the 
white  and  ghostly  Eleanor,  who  changed  her  gems  so 
constantly,  and  said  that  she  had  known  him  millen- 
niums ago.  Indeed,  he  felt  already  as  though  she 
were  much  too  near  him,  especially  at  night,  when  he 
seemed  to  become  aware  of  her  bending  over  his  bed, 
and  generally  making  her  presence  known  in  other  un- 
comfortable ways  that  caused  his  hair  to  stand  up  and 
frightened  him. 

At  the  same  time  he  was  really  fond  of  Miss  Ogilvy, 
and  what  she  said  about  being  ill  touched  him.  Also 
there  was  something  that  drew  him;  it  might  be 
Eleanor,  or  it  might  be  Madame  Riennes.  At  any 
rate  he  felt  a  great  longing  to  go.  Putting  everything 
else  aside,  these  investigations  had  their  delights. 
What  other  young  fellow  of  his  age  could  boast  an 
Eleanor,  who  said  she  had  been  fond  of  him  tens  of 
thousands  of  years  before  ? 

Moreover,  here  was  one  of  the  gates  to  that  knowl- 
edge which  he  desired  so  earnestly,  and  how  could  he 
find  the  strength  to  shut  it  in  his  own  face? 

Of  course  the  end  of  the  matter  was  that  by  the 
following  Sunday,  his  toothache  had  departed,  and  the 
carriage  did  not  return  empty  to  the  Villa  Ogilvy. 

He  found  his  hostess  looking  white  and  ethereal,  an 
appearance  that  she  had  acquired  increasingly  ever 
since  their  first  meeting.  Her  delight  at  seeing  him 
was  obvious,  as  was  that  of  the  others.  For  this  he 
soon  discovered  the  reason.  It  appeared  that  the  sit- 
ting on  the  previous  Sunday,  when  he  was  overcome 
by  toothache,  had  been  an  almost  total  failure.  Profes- 
sor Petersen  had  tried  to  fill  his  place  as  medium, 


io4  LOVE  ETERNAL 

with  the  result  that  when  he  fell  under  the  influence, 
the  only  spirit  that  spoke  through  his  lips  was  one 
which  discoursed  interminably  about  lager  beer  and 
liqueurs  of  some  celestial  brew,  which,  as  Madame 
Riennes,  a  lady  not  given  to  mince  her  words,  told 
him  to  his  face  afterwards,  was  because  he  drank  too 
much.  Hence  the  joy  of  these  enthusiasts  at  the 
re-appearance  of  Godfrey. 

With  considerable  reluctance  that  youth  consented  to 
play  his  usual  role,  and  to  be  put  into  a  charmed  sleep 
by  Madame.  This  time  he  saw  no  Eleanor,  and  knew 
nothing  of  what  happened  until  he  awoke  to  be  greeted 
by  the  horrific  spectacle  of  Miss  Ogilvy  lying  back  in 
her  chair  bathed  in  blood.  General  confusion  reigned 
in  the  midst  of  which  Madame  Riennes  alone  was 
calm. 

"  It  is  haemorrhage  from  the  lungs,"  she  said, 
"  which  is  common  among  poitrinaires.  Brother  Pet- 
ersen,  do  what  you  can,  and  you,  Brother  Smith,  fly 
for  Mademoiselle's  doctor,  and  if  he  is  not  at  home, 
bring  another." 

Later  Godfrey  heard  what  had  chanced.  It  seemed 
that  the  wraith,  or  emanation,  or  the  sprite,  good  or 
evil,  or  whatever  it  may  have  been,  which  called  itself 
Eleanor,  materialized  in  a  very  ugly  temper.  It  com- 
plained that  it  had  not  been  allowed  to  appear  upon  the 
previous  Sunday  and  had  been  kept  away  from  its 
brother,  i.e.,  Godfrey.  Then  it  proceeded  to  threaten 
all  the  circle,  except  Godfrey,  who  was  the  real  culprit, 
with  divers  misfortunes,  especially  directing  its  wrath 
against  Miss  Ogilvy. 

"  You  will  die  soon,"  it  said,  "  and  in  the  spirit 
world  I  will  pay  you  back."  Thrice  it  repeated  this: 


EXPERIENCES  105 

"  You  will  die,"  to  which  Miss  Ogilvy  answered  with 
calm  dignity: 

"  I  am  not  afraid  to  die,  nor  am  I  at  all  afraid  of 
you,  Eleanor,  who,  as  I  now  see,  are  not  good  but 
evil." 

While  she  spoke  a  torrent  of  blood  burst  from  her 
lips,  Eleanor  disappeared,  and  almost  immediately 
Godfrey  awoke. 

In  due  course  the  doctor  came  and  announced  that 
the  haemorrhage  had  ceased,  and  that  the  patient  was 
in  no  imminent  danger.  As  to  the  future,  he  could 
say  nothing,  except  that  having  been  Miss  Ogilvy's 
medical  attendant  for  some  years,  he  had  expected 
something  of  this  sort  to  happen,  and  known  that 
her  life  could  not  be  very  long. 

Then  Godfrey  went  home  very  terrified  and  chast- 
ened, blaming  himself  also  for  this  dreadful  event, 
although  in  truth  no  one  could  have  been  more  inno- 
cent. He  had  grown  very  fond  of  Miss  Ogilvy,  and 
shuddered  to  think  that  she  must  soon  leave  the  world 
to  seek  a  dim  Unknown,  where  there  were  bad  spirits 
as  well  as  good. 

He  shuddered,  too,  at  the  thought  of  this  Eleanor, 
who  made  use  of  him  to  appear  in  human  form,  and 
on  his  knees  prayed  God  to  protect  him  from  her. 
This  indeed  happened,  if  she  had  any  real  existence 
and  was  not  some  mere  creation  of  the  brain  of 
Madame  Riennes,  made  visible  by  the  working  of  laws 
whereof  we  have  no  knowledge.  Never  again,  during 
all  his  life,  did  he  actually  see  any  more  of  Eleanor, 
and  the  probability  is  that  he  never  will,  either  here 
or  elsewhere. 

Three  days  later  Godfrey  received  a  letter  from 


io6  LOVE  ETERNAL 

the  doctor,  saying  that  Miss  Ogilvy  wished  to  see  him, 
and  that  he  recommended  him  not  to  delay  his  visit. 
Having  obtained  the  permission  of  the  Pasteur,  he 
went  in  at  once  by  the  diligence,  and  on  arrival  at  the 
villa,  where  evidently  he  was  expected,  was  shown  up 
to  a  bedroom  which  commanded  a  beautiful  view  of 
the  lake  and  Mount  Pilatus.  Here  a  nurse  met  him 
and  told  him  that  he  must  not  stay  long;  a  quarter  of 
an  hour  at  the  outside.  He  asked  how  Mademoiselle 
was,  whereon  she  answered  with  an  expressive  shrug  : 

"  Soon  she  will  be  further  from  the  earth  than  the 
top  of  that  mountain." 

Then  she  took  him  to  another  smaller  room,  and 
there  upon  the  bed,  looking  whiter  than  the  sheets, 
lay  his  friend.  She  smiled  very  sweetly  when  she 
caught  sight  of  him. 

"  Dear  Godfrey,"  she  said,  "  it  is  kind  of  you  to 
come.  I  wanted  to  see  you  very  much,  for  three  rea- 
sons. First,  I  wish  to  beg  your  pardon  for  having 
drawn  you  into  this  spiritualism  without  your  knowing 
that  I  was  doing  so.  I  have  told  you  what  my  motive 
was,  and  therefore  I  will  not  repeat  it,  as  my  strength 
is  small.  Secondly,  I  wish  you  to  promise  me  that  you 
will  never  go  to  another  seance,  since  now  I  am  sure 
that  it  is  dangerous  for  the  young.  To  me  spiritual- 
ism has  brought  much  good  and  joy,  but  with  others 
it  may  be  different,  especially  as  among  spirits,  as  on 
the  earth,  there  are  evil  beings.  Do  you  promise  ?  " 

"  Yes,  yes,"  answered  Godfrey,  "  only  I  am  afraid 
of  Madame  Riennes." 

"  You  must  stand  up  against  her  if  she  troubles  you, 
and  seek  the  help  of  religion;  if  necessary  consult  your 
old  Pasteur,  for  he  is  a  good  man.  There  is  no  dan- 


EXPERIENCES  107 

ger  in  the  world  that  cannot  be  escaped  if  only  one  is 
bold  enough,  or  so  I  think,  though,  alas!  myself  I 
have  lacked  courage,"  she  added  with  a  gentle  sigh. 

"  Now,  dear  boy,"  she  went  on  after  pausing  to 
recover  strength,  "  I  have  a  third  thing  to  say  to  you. 
I  have  left  you  some  money,  as  I  know  that  you  will 
have  little.  It  is  not  very  much,  but  enough,  allowing 
for  accidents  and  the  lessening  of  capital  values,  to 
give  you  £260  a  year  clear.  I  might  have  given  you 
more,  but  did  not,  for  two  reasons.  The  first  is,  that 
I  have  observed  that  young  men  who  have  what  is 
called  a  competence,  say  £500  or  £600  a  year,  very 
often  are  content  to  try  to  live  on  it,  and  to  do  nothing 
for  themselves,  so  that  in  the  end  it  becomes,  not  a 
blessing,  but  a  curse.  The  second  is,  that  to  do  so  I 
should  be  obliged  to  take  away  from  certain  charities 
and  institutions  which  I  wish  to  benefit.  That  is  all  I 
have  to  say  about  money.  Oh !  no,  there  is  one  more 
thing.  I  have  also  left  you  the  talisman  you  gave  me, 
and  with  it  this  house  and  grounds.  Perhaps  one  day 
you  might  like  to  live  here.  I  have  a  sort  of  feeling 
that  it  will  be  useful  to  you  at  some  great  crisis  of  your 
fate,  and  at  least  it  will  remind  you  of  me,  who  have 
loved  and  tried  to  beautify  the  place.  In  any  case  it 
will  always  let,  and  if  it  becomes  a  white  elephant,  you 
can  sell  it  and  the  furniture,  which  is  worth  some- 
thing." 

Godfrey  began  to  stammer  his  thanks,  but  she  cut 
him  short  with  a  wave  of  her  hand,  murmuring: 

"  Don't  let  us  waste  more  time  on  such  things,  for 
soon  you  must  go  away.  Already  I  see  that  nurse 
looking  at  me  from  the  doorway  of  the  other  room, 
and  I  have  something  more  to  say  to  you.  You  will 


io8  LOVE  ETERNAL 

come  to  think  that  all  this  spiritualism,  as  it  is  called, 
is  nothing  but  a  dangerous  folly.  Well,  it  is  danger- 
ous, like  climbing  the  Alps,  but  one  gets  a  great  view 
from  the  top.  And,  oh!  from  there  how  small  men 
look  and  how  near  are  the  heavens.  I  mean,  my  dear 
boy,  that  although  I  have  asked  you  to  abjure  seances 
and  so  forth,  I  do  pray  of  you  to  cultivate  the  spiritual. 
The  physical,  of  course,  is  always  with  us,  for  that  is 
Nature's  law,  without  which  it  could  not  continue. 
But  around  and  beyond  it  broods  the  spirit,  as  once  it 
did  upon  the  face  of  the  waters,  encircling  all  things; 
the  beginning  of  all  things,  and  the  end.  Only,  as 
wine  cannot  be  poured  into  a  covered  cup,  so  the  spirit 
cannot  flow  into  a  world-sealed  heart,  and  what  is  the 
cup  without  the  wine?  Open  your  heart,  Godfrey,  and 
receive  the  spirit,  so  that  when  the  mortal  perishes  the 
immortal  may  remain  and  everlastingly  increase.  For 
you  .know,  if  we  choose  death  we  shall  die,  and  if  we 
choose  life  we  shall  live;  we,  and  all  that  is  dear  to 
us." 

Miss  Ogilvy  paused  a  little  to  get  her  breath,  then 
went  on :  "Now,  my  boy,  kiss  me  and  go.  But  first — 
one  word  more.  I  have  taken  a  strange  affection  for 
you,  perhaps  because  we  were  associated  in  other  exist- 
ences, I  do  not  know.  Well,  I  want  to  say  that  from 
the  land  whither  I  am  about  to  be  borne,  it  shall  be 
my  great  endeavour,  if  it  is  so  allowed,  to  watch  over 
you,  to  help  you  if  there  be  need,  and  in  the  end  to  be 
among  the  first  to  greet  you  there,  you,  or  any  whom 
you  may  love  in  this  journey  of  yours  through  life. 
Look,  the  sun  is  sinking.  Now,  goodbye  till  the 
dawn." 

He  bent  down  and  kissed  her  and  she  kissed  him 


EXPERIENCES  109 

back,  throwing  her  thin  and  feeble  arm  about  his  neck, 
after  which  the  nurse  came  and  hurried  him  away 
weeping.  At  the  door  he  turned  back  and  saw  her 
smile  at  him,  and,  oh !  on  her  wasted  face  were  peace 
and  beauty. 

Next  day  she  died. 

Forty-eight  hours  later  Godfrey  attended  her 
funeral,  to  which  the  Pasteur  Boiset  was  also  bidden, 
and  after  it  was  over  they  were  both  summoned  to  the 
office  of  a  notary  where  her  will  was  read.  She  was  a 
rich  woman,  who  left  behind  her  property  to  the  value 
of  quite  £100,000,  most  of  it  in  England.  Indeed,  this 
Swiss  notary  was  only  concerned  with  her  possessions 
in  Lucerne,  namely  the  Villa  Ogilvy,  its  grounds  and 
furniture,  and  certain  moneys  that  she  had  in  local 
securities  or  at  the  bank.  The  house,  its  appurtenances 
and  contents,  were  left  absolutely  to  Godfrey,  the 
Pasteur  Boiset  being  appointed  trustee  of  the  property 
until  the  heir  came  of  age,  with  a  legacy  of  £200,  and 
an  annual  allowance  of  £100  for  his  trouble. 

Moreover,  with  tender  care,  except  for  certain  be- 
quests to  servants,  the  testatrix  devoted  all  her  Swiss 
moneys  to  be  applied  to  the  upkeep  of  the  place,  with 
the  proviso  that  if  it  were  sold  these  capital  sums 
should  revert  to  her  other  heirs  in  certain  proportions. 
The  total  of  such  moneys  as  would  pass  with  the  prop- 
erty, was  estimated  by  the  notary  to  amount  to  about 
£4,000  sterling,  after  the  payment  of  all  State  charges 
and  legal  expenses.  The  value  of  the  property  itself, 
with  the  fine  old  French  furniture  and  pictures  which 
it  contained,  was  also  considerable,  but  unascertained. 
For  the  rest  it  would  appear  that  Godfrey  inherited 


i  io  LOVE  ETERNAL 

about  £12,000  in  England,  together  with  a  possible 
further  sum  of  which  the  amount  was  not  known,  as 
residuary  legatee.  This  bequest  was  vested  in  the 
English  trustees  of  the  testatrix  who  were  instructed 
to  apply  the  interest  for  his  benefit  until  he  reached  the 
age  of  twenty-five,  after  which  the  capital  was  to  be 
handed  over  to  him  absolutely. 

Godfrey,  whose  knowledge  of  the  French  tongue  was 
still  limited,  and  who  was  overcome  with  grief  more- 
over after  the  sad  scene  through  which  he  had  just 
passed,  listened  to  all  these  details  with  bewilderment. 
He  was  not  even  elated  when  the  grave  notary  shook 
his  hand  and  congratulated  him  with  the  respect  that 
is  accorded  to  an  heir,  at  the  same  time  expressing  a 
hope  that  he  would  be  allowed  to  remain  his  legal  rep- 
resentative in  Switzerland.  Indeed,  the  lad  only  mut- 
tered something  and  slipped  away  behind  the  servants 
whose  sorrow  was  distracted  by  the  exercise  of  mental 
arithmetic  as  to  the  amount  of  their  legacies. 

After  his  first  stupefaction,  however,  the  Pasteur 
could  not  conceal  his  innocent  joy.  A  legacy  of  £200, 
a  trusteeship  "  of  the  most  important "  as  he  called  it, 
and  an  allowance  of  £100  for  years  to  come,  were  to 
him  wonderful  wealth  and  honour. 

"  Truly,  dear  young  friend,"  he  said  to  Godfrey,  as 
they  left  the  office,  "  it  was  a  fortunate  hour  for  me, 
and  for  you  also,  when  you  entered  my  humble  house. 
Now  I  am  not  only  your  instructor,  but  the  guardian 
of  your  magnificent  Lucerne  property.  I  assure  you 
that  I  will  care  for  it  well.  To-morrow  I  will  inter- 
view those  domestics  and  dismiss  at  leasf  half  of  them, 
for  there  are  far  too  many." 


CHAPTER  VII 

MR.    KNIGHT   AND  DUTY 

THE  pair  returned  to  Kleindorf  by  the  evening  dili- 
gence, and  among  the  passengers  was  that  same  priest 
who  had  been  their  companion  on  the  day  of  Godfrey's 
arrival.  As  usual  he  was  prepared  to  be  bellicose,  and 
figuratively,  trailed  the  tails  of  his  coat  before  his  an- 
cient enemy.  But  the  Pasteur  would  not  tread  on 
them.  Indeed,  so  mild  and  conciliatory  were  his  an- 
swers that  at  last  the  priest,  who  was  a  good  soul  at 
bottom,  grew  anxious  and  inquired  if  he  were  ill. 

"  No,  no,"  said  a  voice  from  the  recesses  of  the 
dark  coach,  "  Monsieur  le  Pasteur  has  come  into 
money.  Oh,  I  have  heard !  " 

"  Is  it  so?  Now  I  understand,"  remarked  the  priest 
with  a  sniff,  "  I  feared  that  he  had  lost  his  health." 

Then  they  arrived  at  Kleindorf,  and  the  conversa- 
tion ended  with  mutual  bows. 

Great  was  the  excitement  of  Madame  and  Juliette  at 
the  news  which  they  brought  with  them.  To  their  ears 
Godfrey's  inheritance  sounded  a  tale  of  untold  wealth, 
nearly  300,000  francs !  Why,  they  did  not  know  any- 
one in  the  neighbourhood  of  Kleindorf  who  owned  so 
much.  And  then  that  fine  house,  with  its  gardens 
and  lovely  furniture,  which  was  the  talk  of  Lucerne. 
And  the  Pasteur  with  his  5,000  francs  clear  to  be  paid 
immediately,  plus  an  income  of  2,500  for  the  next  eight 

in 


112  LOVE  ETERNAL 

years.  Here  were  riches  indeed.  It  was  wonderful, 
and  all  after  an  acquaintance  of  only  a  few  months. 
They  looked  at  Godfrey  with  admiration.  Truly  he 
must  be  a  remarkable  youth  who  was  thus  able  to  at- 
tract the  love  of  the  wealthy. 

An  idea  occurred  to  Madame.  Why  should  he  not 
marry  Juliette?  She  was  vivacious  and  pretty,  fit  in 
every  way  to  become  a  great  lady,  even  perhaps  to 
adorn  the  lovely  Villa  Ogilvy  in  future  years.  She 
would  have  a  word  with  Juliette,  and  show  her  where 
fortune  lay.  If  the  girl  had  any  wit  it  should  be  as 
good  as  assured,  for  with  her  opportunities 

And  so,  doubtless,  it  might  have  chanced  had  it  not 
been  for  a  certain  determined  and  unconventional 
young  woman  far  away  in  England,  of  whom  the  per- 
sistent memory,  however  much  he  might  flirt,  quite 
prevented  Godfrey  from  falling  in  love,  as  otherwise 
he  ought  to,  and  indeed,  probably  must  have  done  at 
his  age  and  in  his  circumstances. 

Perhaps  Miss  Juliette,  who  although  young  was  no 
fool,  also  had  ideas  upon  the  subject,  at  any  rate  at 
this  time,  especially  as  she  had  found  I'Hibou  always 
attractive,  notwithstanding  his  star-gazing  ways,  and 
the  shower  of  wealth  that  had  descended  on  him  as 
though  direct  from  the  Bon  Dieu,  did  not  lessen  his 
charms.  If  so,  who  could  blame  her?  When  one  has 
been  obliged  always  to  look  at  both  sides  of  a  sou  and 
really  pretty  frocks,  such  as  ladies  wear,  are  almost 
as  unobtainable  as  Godfrey's  stars,  money  becomes 
important,  especially  to  a  girl  with  an  instinct  for  dress 
and  a  love  of  life. 

Thenceforward,  at  least,  as  may  be  imagined, 
Monsieur  Godfrey  became  a  very  prominent  person 


MR.  KNIGHT  AND  DUTY    .         113 

indeed  in  the  Boiset  establishment.  All  his  little  tastes 
were  consulted;  Madame  moved  him  into  the  best 
spare  bedroom,  on  the  ground  that  the  one  he  occupied 
would  be  cold  in  winter,  which,  when  he  was  out,  Juli- 
ette made  a  point  of  adorning  with  flowers  if  these 
were  forthcoming,  or  failing  them  with  graceful  sprays 
of  winter  berries.  Also  she  worked  him  some  slip- 
pers covered  with  little  devils  in  black  silk,  which  she 
•said  he  must  learn  to  tread  under  foot,  though  whether 
this  might  be  a  covert  allusion  to  his  spiritualistic  ex- 
periences or  merely  a  flight  of  fancy  on  her  part,  God- 
frey did  not  know. 

On  the  evening  of  the  reading  of  the  will,  prompted 
thereto  by  the  Pasteur,  that  young  gentleman  wrote  a 
letter  to  his  father,  a  task  which  he  always  thought 
difficult,  to  tell  him  what  had  happened.  As  he  found 
explanations  impossible,  it  was  brief,  though  the  time 
occupied  in  composing  drafts,  was  long.  Finally  it 
took  the  following  form : — 

"  MY  DEAR  FATHER, — I  think  I  told  you  that  I  travelled 
out  here  with  a  lady  named  Miss  Ogilvy,  whom  I  have 
often  seen  since.  She  has  just  died  and  left  me,  as  I 
understand,  about  £12,000,  which  I  am  to  get  when  I  am 
twenty-five.  Meanwhile  I  am  to  have  the  income,  so  I 
am  glad  to  say  I  shall  not  cost  you  any  more.  Also  she 
has  left  me  a  large  house  in  Lucerne  with  a  beautiful 
garden  and  a  lot  of  fine  furniture,  and  some  money  to 
keep  it  up.  As  I  can't  live  there,  I  suppose  it  will  have 
to  be  let. 

"  I  hope  you  are  very  well.  Please  give  my  love  to 
Mrs.  Parsons  and  tell  her  about  this.  It  is  growing  very 
cold  here,  and  the  mountains  are  covered  with  snow, 
but  there  has  been  little  frost.  I  am  getting  on  well  with 


114  LOVE  ETERNAL 

my  French,  which  I  talk  with  Mademoiselle  Juliette,  who 
knows  no  English,  although  she  thinks  she  does.  She  is 
a  pretty  girl  and  sings  nicely.  Madame,  too,  is  very 
charming.  I  work  at  the  other  things  with  the  Pasteur, 
who  is  kind  to  me.  He  will  write  to  you  also  and  I 
will  enclose  his  letter. 

"  Your  affectionate  son, 

"  GODFREY." 

The  receipt  of  this  epistle  caused  astonishment  in 
Mr.  Knight,  not  unmixed  with  irritation.  Why  could 
not  the  boy  be  more  explicit  ?  Who  was  Miss  Ogilvy, 
whose  name,  so  far  as  he  could  recollect,  he  now  heard 
for  the  first  time,  and  how  did  she  come  to  leave 
Godfrey  so  much  money?  The  story  was  so  strange 
that  he  began  to  wonder  whether  it  were  a  joke,  or 
perhaps,  an  hallucination.  If  not,  there  must  be  a 
great  deal  unrevealed.  The  letter  which  Godfrey 
said  the  Pasteur  would  write  was  not  enclosed,  and  if 
it  had  been,  probably  would  not  have  helped  him  much 
as  he  did  not  understand  French,  and  could  scarcely 
decipher  his  cramped  calligraphy.  Lastly,  he  had 
heard  nothing  from  any  lawyers  or  trustees. 

In  his  bewilderment  he  went  straight  to  Hawk's 
Hall,  taking  the  letter  with  him,  with  a  view  to  bor- 
rowing books  of  reference  which  might  enable  him 
to  identify  Miss  Ogilvy.  The  butler  said  that  he 
thought  Sir  John  was  in  and  showed  him  to  the  morn- 
ing room,  where  he  found  Isobel,  who  informed  him 
that  her  father  had  just  gone  out.  Their  meeting 
was  not  affectionate,  for  as  has  been  told,  Isobel  de- 
tested Mr.  Knight,  and  he  detested  Isobel.  Moreover, 
there  was  a  reason,  which  shall  be  explained,  which 
just  then  made  him  feel  uncomfortable  in  her  pres- 


MR.  KNIGHT  AND  DUTY  115 

ence.  Being  there,  however,  he  thought  it  necessary 
to  explain  the  object  of  his  visit. 

"  I  have  had  a  very  strange  letter  from  that  odd 
boy,  Godfrey,"  he  said,  "which  makes  me  want  to 
borrow  a  book.  Here  it  is,  perhaps  you  will  read  it, 
as  it  will  save  time  and  explanation." 

"  I  don't  want  to  read  Godfrey's  letters,"  said  Isobel, 
stiffly. 

"  It  will  save  time,"  repeated  Mr.  Knight,  thrusting 
it  towards  her. 

Then,  being  overcome  by  curiosity,  she  read  it.  The 
money  part  did  not  greatly  interest  her;  money  was 
such  a  common  thing  of  which  she  heard  so  much. 
What  interested  her  were,  first,  Miss  Ogilvy  and  the 
unexplained  reasons  of  her  bequest,  and  secondly,  in  a 
more  acute  fashion,  Mademoiselle  Boiset,  who  was 
pretty  and  sang  so  nicely.  Miss  Ogilvy,  whoever  she 
might  have  been,  at  any  rate,  was  dead,  but  Juliette 
clearly  was  much  alive,  with  her  prettiness  and  good 
voice.  No  wonder,  then,  that  she  had  not  heard  from 
Godfrey.  He  was  too  occupied  with  the  late  Miss 
Ogilvy  and  the  very  present  Mademoiselle  Juliette, 
in  whose  father's  house  he  was  living  as  one  of  the 
family. 

Isobel's  face,  however,  showed  none  of  her  won- 
derings.  She  read  the  letter  quite  composedly,  but 
with  such  care  that  afterwards  she  could  have  re- 
peated it  by  heart.  Then  she  handed  it  back,  say- 
ing: 

"  Well,  Godfrey  seems  to  have  been  fortunate." 

"Yes,  but  why?  I  find  no  explanation  of  this 
bequest — if  there  is  a  bequest." 

"  No  doubt  there  is,  Mr.   Knight.     Godfrey  was 


ii6  LOVE  ETERNAL 

always  most  truthful  and  above-board,"  she  answered, 
looking  at  him. 

Mr.  Knight  flinched  and  coloured  at  her  words, 
and  the  steady  gaze  of  those  grey  eyes.  She  won- 
dered why  though  she  was  not  to  learn  for  a  long 
while. 

"  I  thought  perhaps  you  could  lend  me  some  book, 
or  books,  which  would  enable  me  to  find  out  about 
Miss  Ogilvy.  I  have  never  heard  of  her  before,  though 
I  think  that  in  one  of  his  brief  communications  God- 
frey did  mention  a  lady  who  was  kind  to  him  in  the 
train." 

"  Certainly,  there  are  lots  of  them.  '  Who's  Who  * 
— only  she  would  not  be  there  unless  she  was  very 
rich,  but  you  might  look.  Peerages ;  they're  no  good  as 
she  was  Miss  Ogilvy,  though,  of  course,  she  might  be 
the  daughter  of  a  baron.  '  County  Families,'  Red 
Books,  etc.  Let's  try  some  of  them." 

So  they  did  try.  Various  Ogilvys  there  were,  but 
none  who  gave  them  any  clue.  This  was  not  strange, 
as  both  Miss  Ogilvy's  parents  had  died  in  Australia, 
when  she  was  young,  leaving  her  to  be  brought  up  by 
an  aunt  of  another  name  in  England,  who  was  also 
long  dead. 

So  Mr.  Knight  retreated  baffled.  Next  morning, 
however,  a  letter  arrived  addressed  "  Godfrey  Knight, 
Esq.,"  which  after  his  pleasing  fashion  he  opened 
promptly.  It  proved  to  be  a  communication  from  a 
well-known  firm  of  lawyers,  which  enclosed  a  copy  of 
Miss  Ogilvy's  will,  called  special  attention  to  the  codi- 
cil affecting  himself,  duly  executed  before  the  British 
Consul  and  his  clerk  in  Lucerne,  gave  the  names  of  the 
English  trustees,  solicited  information  as  to  where 


MR.  KNIGHT  AND  DUTY  117 

the  interest  on  the  sum  bequeathed  was  to  be  paid, 
and  so  forth. 

To  this  inquiry  Mr.  Knight  at  once  replied  that  the 
moneys  might  be  paid  to  him  as  the  father  of  the  lega- 
tee, and  was  furious  when  all  sorts  of  objections  were 
raised  to  that  course,  unless  every  kind  of  guarantee 
were  given  that  they  would  be  used  solely  and  strictly 
for  the  benefit  of  his  son.  Finally,  an  account  had  to 
be  opened  on  which  cheques  could  be  drawn  signed  by 
one  of  the  trustees  and  Mr.  Knight.  This  proviso 
made  the  latter  even  more  indignant  than  before,  es- 
pecially as  it  was  accompanied  by  an  intimation  that 
the  trustees  would  require  his  son's  consent,  either  by 
letter  or  in  a  personal  interview,  to  any  arrangements 
as  to  his  career,  etc.,  which  involved  expenditure  of 
the  trust  moneys.  When  a  somewhat  rude  and  lengthy 
letter  to  them  to  that  effect  was  met  with  a  curt  ac- 
knowledgment of  its  receipt  and  a  reference  to  their 
previous  decision,  Mr.  Knight's  annoyance  hardened 
into  a  permanent  grievance  against  his  son,  whom  he 
seemed  to  hold  responsible  for  what  he  called  an  "  af- 
front "  to  himself. 

He  was  a  man  with  large  ideas  of  paternal  rights, 
of  which  an  example  may  be  given  that  was  not  with- 
out its  effect  upon  the  vital  interests  of  others. 

When  Isobel  returned  from  London,  after  the  fancy- 
dress  ball,  at  which  she  thought  she  had  seen  a  ghost 
whilst  sitting  in  the  square  with  her  young  admirer 
who  was  dressed  as  a  knight,  she  waited  for  a  long 
while  expecting  to  receive  a  letter  from  Godfrey.  As 
none  came,  although  she  knew  from  Mrs.  Parsons  that 
he  had  written  home  several  times,  she  began  to  won- 


n8  LOVE  ETERNAL 

der  as  to  the  cause  of  his  silence.  Then  an  idea  oc- 
curred to  her. 

Supposing  that  what  she  had  seen  was  no  fancy 
of  her  mind,  but  Godfrey  himself,  who  in  some  mys- 
terious fashion  had  found  his  way  into  that  square, 
perhaps  in  the  hope  of  seeing  her  at  the  ball  in  order 
to  say  goodbye?  This  was  possible,  since  she  had 
ascertained  from  some  casual  remark  by  his  father 
that  he  did  not  leave  London  until  the  following  morn- 
ing. 

If  this  had  happened,  if  he  had  seen  her  "  playing 
the  fool,"  as  she  expressed  it  to  herself  with  that  good- 
looking  man  in  the  square,  what  would  he  have  thought 
of  her?  She  never  paused  to  remember  that  he  had 
no  right  to  think  anything.  Somehow  from  childhood 
she  acknowledged  in  her  heart  that  he  had  every  right, 
though  when  she  said  this  to  herself,  she  did  not  in  the 
least  understand  all  that  the  admission  conveyed. 
Although  she  bullied  and  maltreated  him  at  times,  yet 
to  herself  she  always  confessed  him  to  be  her  lord  and 
master.  He  was  the  one  male  creature  for  whom  she 
cared  in  the  whole  world,  indeed,  putting  her  mother 
out  of  the  question,  she  cared  for  no  other  man  or 
woman,  and  would  never  learn  to  do  so. 

For  hers  was  a  singular  and  very  rare  instance  of 
almost  undivided  affection  centred  on  a  single  object. 
So  far  as  his  sex  was  concerned  Godfrey  was  her  all, 
a  position  of  which  any  man  might  well  be  proud  in  the 
case  of  any  woman,  and  especially  of  one  who  had 
many  opportunities  of  devoting  herself  to  others.  In 
her  example,  however,  she  was  not  to  be  thanked, 
for  the  reason  that  she  only  followed  her  nature,  or 
perhaps  the  dictates  of  that  fate  which  inspires  and 


MR.  KNIGHT  AND  DUTY  119 

rules  every  great  love,  whether  it  be  between  man  and 
woman,  between  parent  and  child,  between  brother 
and  brother,  or  between  friend  and  friend.  Such 
feelings  do  not  arise,  or  grow.  They  simply  are;  the 
blossoms  of  a  plant  that  has  its  secret  roots  far  away 
in  the  soil  of  Circumstance  beyond  our  ken,  and  that, 
mayhap,  has  pushed  its  branches  through  existences 
without  number,  and  in  the  climates  of  many  worlds. 

So  at  least  it  was  with  Isobel,  and  so  it  had  always 
been  since  she  kissed  the  sleeping  child  in  the  old 
refectory  of  the  Abbey.  She  was  his,  and  in  a  way, 
however  much  she  might  doubt  or  mistrust,  her  inner 
sense  and  instinct  told  her  that  he  was  always  hers,  that 
so  he  had  always  been  and  so  always  would  remain. 
With  the  advent  of  womanhood  these  truths  came 
home  to  her  with  an  increased  force  because  she  knew 
— again  by  instinct — that  this  fact  of  womanhood 
multiplied  the  chances  of  attainment  to  the  unity 
which  she  desired,  however  partial  that  might  still 
prove  to  be. 

Yet  she  knew  also  that  this  great  mutual  attraction 
did  not  depend  on  sex,  though  by  the  influence  of  sex 
it  might  be  quickened  and  accentuated.  It  was  some- 
thing much  more  deep  and  wide,  something  which  she 
did  not  and  perhaps  never  would  understand.  The  sex 
element  was  accidental,  so  much  so  that  the  passage  of 
a  few  earthly  years  would  rob  it  of  its  power  to  attract 
and  make  it  as  though  it  had  never  been,  but  the  per- 
fect friendship  between  their  souls  was  permanent 
and  without  shadow  of  change.  She  knew,  oh !  she 
knew,  although  no  word  of  it  had  ever  been  spoken 
between  them,  that  theirs  was  the  Love  Eternal.  The 
quick  perceptions  of  her  woman's  mind  told  her  these 


120  LOVE  ETERNAL 

things,  of  which  Godfrey's  in  its  slower  growth  was 
not  yet  aware. 

Animated  by  this  new  idea  that  she  had  really  seen 
Godfrey,  and  what  was  much  worse,  that  Godfrey 
had  really  seen  her  upon  an  occasion  when  she  would 
have  much  preferred  to  remain  invisible  to  him,  she 
was  filled  with  remorse,  and  determined  to  write  him 
a  letter.  Like  that  of  the  young  man  himself  to  his 
father,  its  composition  took  her  a  good  deal  of  time. 

Here  it  is  as  copied  from  her  third  and  final  draft : — 

"  MY  DEAR  OLD  GODFREY, — I  have  an  idea  that  you 
were  in  the  Square  on  the  night  of  the  fancy  ball  when  I 
came  out,  and  wore  that  horrid  Plantagenet  dress  which, 
after  all,  did  not  fit.  (I  sent  it  to  a  jumble-sale  where 
no  one  would  buy  it,  so  I  gave  it  to  Mrs.  Smilie,  who  has 
nine  children,  to  cut  into  frocks  for  her  little  girls.)  If 
you  were  there,  instead  of  resting  before  your  long  jour- 
ney as  you  ought  to  have  done,  and  saw  me  with  a  man 
in  armour  and  a  rose — and  the  rest,  of  course  you  will 
have  understood  that  this  was  all  part  of  the  game. 
You  see,  we  had  to  pretend  that  we  were  knights  and 
ladies  who,  when  they  were  not  cutting  throats  or  being 
carried  off  with  their  hair  down,  seem  to  have  wasted 
their  time  in  giving  each  other  favours,  and  all  that  sort 
of  bosh.  (We  did  not  know  what  a  favour  was,  so  we 
used  a  rose.)  The  truth  is  that  the  young  man  and  his 
armour,  especially  his  spurs  which  tore  my  dress,  and 
everything  about  him  bored  me,  the  more  so  because  all 
the  while  I  was  thinking  of — well,  other  things — how  you 
would  get  through  your  journey,  and  like  those  French 
people  and  the  rest.  So  now,  if  you  were  there,  you 
won't  be  cross,  and  if  you  were  not,  and  don't  under- 
stand what  I  am  saying,  it  isn't  worth  bothering  about. 
Ii;  any  case,  you  had  no  right  to — I  mean,  be  cross.  It  is 


MR.  KNIGHT  AND  DUTY  121' 

I  who  should  be  cross  with  you  for  poking  about  in  a 
London  square  so  late  and  not  coming  forward  to  say 
how  do  you  do  and  be  introduced  to  the  knight.  That  is 
all  I  have  to  say  about  the  business,  so  don't  write  and 
ask  me  any  questions. 

"  There  is  no  news  here — there  never  is — except  that 
I  haven't  been  into  that  church  since  you  left,  and  don't 
mean  to,  which  makes  your  father  look  at  me  as  sourly 
as  though  he  had  eaten  a  whole  hatful  of  crab-apples. 
He  hates  me,  you  know,  and  I  rather  like  him  for  showing 
it,  as  it  saves  me  the  trouble  of  trying  to  keep  up  ap- 
pearances. Do  tell  me,  when  you  write,  how  to  explain 
his  ever  having  been  your  father.  If  he  still  wants  you 
to  go  into  the  Church  I  advise  you  to  study  the  Thirty- 
nine  Articles.  I  read  them  all  through  yesterday,  and 
how  anybody  can  swear  to  them  in  this  year  of  grace  I'm 
sure  I  don't  know.  They  must  shut  their  eyes  and  open 
their  mouths,  like  we  used  to  do  when  we  took  powders. 
By  the  way,  did  you  ever  read  anything  about  Buddhism  ? 
I've  got  a  book  on  it  which  I  think  rather  fine.  At  any 
rate,  it  is  a  great  idea,  though  I  think  I  should  find  it 
difficult  to  follow  '  the  Way.' 

"  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  Mother  is  not  at  all  well.  She 
coughs  a  great  deal  now  that  Essex  is  getting  so  damp, 
and  grows  thinner  and  thinner.  The  doctor  says  she 
ought  to  go  to  Egypt,  only  Father  won't  hear  of  it.  But 
I  won't  write  about  that  or  we  should  have  another 
argument  on  the  fourth  Commandment.  Good-bye,  dear 
old  boy. — Your  affectionate  ISOBEL. 

"  P.S. — When  you  write  don't  tell  me  all  about 
Switzerland  and  snow-covered  mountains  and  blue,  bot- 
tomless lakes,  etc.,  which  I  can  read  in  books.  Tell 
me  about  yourself  and  what  you  are  doing  and  thinking — 
especially  what  you  are  thinking. 

"  P.P.S. — That    man    in    armour    isn't    really    good- 


122  LOVE  ETERNAL 

looking;  he  has  a  squint.  Also  he  puts  scent  upon  his 
hair  and  can't  spell.  I  know  because  he  tried  to  write 
a  bit  of  poetry  on  my  programme  and  got  it  all  wrong." 

When  she  had  finished  this  somewhat  laboured 
epistle  Isobel  remembered  that  she  had  forgotten  to 
ask  Godfrey  to  write  down  his  address.  Bethinking 
her  that  it  would  be  known  to  Mrs.  Parsons,  she  took 
it  round  to  the  Abbey  House,  proposing  to  add  it  there. 
As  it  happened  Mrs.  Parsons  was  out,  so  she  left  it 
with  the  housemaid,  who  promised  faithfully  to  give 
it  to  her  when  she  returned,  with  Isobel's  message  as  to 
writing  the  address  on  the  sealed  envelope.  In  order 
that  she  might  not  forget,  the  maid  placed  it  on  a  table 
by  the  back  door.  By  ill  luck,  however,  presently 
through  that  door,  which  was  a  short  cut  into  the 
house,  came,  not  Mrs.  Parsons,  but  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Knight.  He  saw  the  letter  addressed  Godfrey  Knight, 
Esq.,  and,  though  he  half  pretended  to  himself  that  he 
did  not,  at  once  recognized  Isobel's  large,  upright  hand. 
Taking  it  from  the  table  he  carried  it  with  him  into 
his  study  and  there  contemplated  it  for  a  while. 

"  That  pernicious  girl  is  communicating  with  God- 
frey," he  said  to  himself,  "  which  I  particularly  wish 
to  prevent." 

A  desire  came  upon  him  to  know  what  was  in  the 
letter,  and  he  began  to  argue  with  himself  as  to  his 
"  duty  " — that  was  the  word  he  used.  Finally  he  con- 
cluded that  as  Godfrey  was  still  so  young  and  so  open 
to  bad  influences  from  that  quarter,  this  duty  clearly 
indicated  that  he  should  read  the  letter  before  it  was 
forwarded.  In  obedience  to  this  high  impulse  he 
opened  and  read  it,  with  the  result  that  by  the  time  it 


MR.  KNIGHT  AND  DUTY  123 

was  finished  there  was  perhaps  no  more  angry  clergy- 
man in  the  British  Empire.  The  description  of  himself 
looking  as  though  he  had  eaten  a  hatful  of  crab-apples ; 
the  impious  remarks  about  the  Thirty-nine  Articles; 
the  suggestion  that  Godfrey,  instead  of  going  to  bed  as 
he  had  ordered  him  to  do  that  evening,  was  wandering 
about  London  at  midnight;  the  boldly  announced  in- 
tention of  the  writer  of  not  going  to  church — indeed, 
every  word  of  it  irritated  him  beyond  bearing. 

"  Well,"  he  said  aloud,  "  I  do  not  think  that  I  am 
called  upon  to  spend  twopence-halfpenny"  (for  Isobel 
had  forgotten  the  stamp)  "  in  forwarding  such  poison- 
ous trash  to  a  son  whom  I  should  guard  from  evil. 
Hateful  girl!  At  any  rate  she  shall  have  no  answer 
to  this  effusion." 

Then  he  put  the  letter  into  a  drawer  which  he  locked. 

As  a  consequence,  naturally,  Isobel  did  receive  "  no 
answer,"  a  fact  from  which  she  drew  her  own  conclu- 
sions. Indeed,  it  would  not  be  too  much  to  say  that 
these  seared  her  soul.  She  had  written  to  Godfrey, 
she  had  humbled  herself  before  Godfrey,  and  he  sent 
her — no  answer.  It  never  occurred  to  her  to  make 
inquiries  as  to  the  fate  of  that  letter,  except  once  when 
she  asked  the  housemaid  whom  she  chanced  to  meet, 
whether  she  had  given  it  to  Mrs.  Parsons.  The  girl, 
whose  brain,  or  whatever  represented  that  organ,  was 
entirely  fixed  upon  a  young  man  in  the  village  of  whom 
she  was  jealous,  answered,  yes.  Perhaps  she  had  en- 
tirely forgotten  the  incident,  or  perhaps  she  considered 
the  throwing  of  the  letter  upon  a  table  as  equivalent  to 
delivery. 

At  any  rate,  Isobel,  who  thought,  like  most  other 
young  people,  that  when  once  they  have  written  some- 


124  LOVE  ETERNAL 

thing,  it  is  conveyed  by  a  magical  agency  to  the  ad- 
dressee, even  if  left  between  the  leaves  of  a  blotter, 
accepted  the  assurance  as  conclusive.  Without  doubt 
the  letter  had  gone  and  duly  arrived,  only  Godfrey  did 
not  choose  to  answer  it,  that  was  all.  Perhaps  this 
might  be  because  he  was  still  angry  on  account  of  the 
knight  in  armour — oh!  how  she  hoped  that  this  was 
the  reason,  but,  as  her  cold,  common  sense,  of  which 
she  had  an  unusual  share,  convinced  her,  much  more 
probably  the  explanation  was  that  he  was  engaged 
otherwise  and  did  not  think  it  worth  while  to  take 
the  trouble  to  write. 

Later  on,  it  is  true,  she  did  mean  to  ask  Mrs.  Par- 
sons whether  she  had  forwarded  the  letter.  But  as 
it  chanced,  before  she  did  so,  that  good  woman  burst 
into  a  flood  of  conversation  about  Godfrey,  saying 
how  happy  he  seemed  to  be  in  his  new  home  with  such 
nice  ladies  around,  who  it  was  plain,  thought  so  much 
of  him,  and  so  forth.  This  garrulity  Isobel  took  as  an 
intended  hint  and  ceased  from  her  contemplated 
queries.  When  some  months  later  Mr.  Knight  brought 
her  Godfrey's  epistle  which  announced  his  inheritance, 
needless  to  say,  everything  became  plain  as  a  pike- 
staff to  her  experienced  intelligence. 

So  it  came  about  that  two  young  people,  who  adored 
each  other,  were  estranged  for  a  considerable  length 
of  time.  For  Isobel  wrote  no  more  letters,  and  the 
proud  and  outraged  Godfrey  would  rather  have  died 
than  attempt  to  open  a  correspondence — after  what  he 
had  seen  in  that  London  square.  It  is  true  that  in  his 
brief  epistles  home,  which  were  all  addressed  to  his 
father,  since  Mrs.  Parsons  was  what  is  called  "  a  poor 
scholar,"  he  did  try  in  a  roundabout  way  to  learn 


MR.  KNIGHT  AND  DUTY  125 

something  about  Isobel,  but  these  inquiries,  for  reasons 
of  his  own,  his  parent  completely  ignored.  In  short, 
she  might  have  been  dead  for  all  that  Godfrey  heard 
of  her,  as  he  believed  that  she  was  dead — to  him. 

Meanwhile,  Isobel  had  other  things  to  occupy  her. 
Her  mother,  as  she  had  said  in  the  letter  which  Mr. 
Knight's  sense  of  duty  compelled  him  to  steal,  became 
very  ill  with  lung  trouble.  The  doctors  announced 
that  she  ought  to  be  taken  to  Egypt  or  some  other 
warm  climate,  such  as  Algeria,  for  the  winter  months. 
Sir  John  would  hear  of  nothing  of  the  sort.  For  years 
past  he  had  chosen  to  consider  that  his  wife  was  hypo- 
chondriacal,  and  all  the  medical  opinions  in  London 
would  not  have  induced  him  to  change  that  view.  The 
fact  was,  as  may  be  guessed,  that  it  did  not  suit  him 
to  leave  England,  and  that  for  sundry  reasons  which 
need  not  be  detailed,  he  did  not  wish  that  Isobel  should 
accompany  her  mother  to  what  he  called  "  foreign 
parts."  In  his  secret  heart  he  reflected  that  if  Lady 
Jane  died,  well,  she  died,  and  while  heaven  gained  a 
saint,  earth,  or  at  any  rate,  Sir  John  Blake,  would  be 
no  loser.  She  had  played  her  part  in  this  life,  there 
was  nothing  more  to  be  made  of  her  either  as  a 
woman  or  as  a  social  asset.  What  would  it  matter  if 
one  more  pale,  uninteresting  lady  of  title  joined  the 
majority? 

Isobel  had  one  of  her  stormy  interviews  with  Sir 
John  upon  this  matter  of  her  mother's  health. 

"  She  ought  to  go  abroad,"  she  said. 

"Who  told  you  that?"  asked  her  father. 

"  The  doctors.    I  waited  for  them  and  asked  them." 

"  Then  you  had  no  business  to  do  so.  You  are  an 
impertinent  and  interfering  chit." 


126  LOVE  ETERNAL 

"  Is  it  impertinent  and  interfering  to  be  anxious 
about  one's  mother's  health,  even  if  one  is  a  chit?" 
inquired  Isobel,  looking  him  straight  in  the  eyes. 

Then  he  broke  out  in  his  coarse  way,  saying  things 
to  his  daughter  of  which  he  should  have  been  ashamed. 

She  waited  until  he  ceased,  red-faced,  and  gasping, 
and  replied : 

"  Were  it  not  for  my  mother,  whom  you  abuse, 
although  she  is  such  an  angel  and  has  always  been  so 
kind  to  you,  I  would  leave  you,  Father,  and  earn  my 
own  living,  or  go  with  my  uncle  Edgar  to  Mexico, 
where  he  is  to  be  appointed  Minister,  as  he  and  Aunt 
Margaret  asked  me  to  do.  As  it  is  I  shall  stop  here, 
though  if  anything  happens  to  Mother,  because  you 
will  not  send  her  abroad,  I  shall  go  if  I  have  to  run 
away.  Why  won't  you  let  her  go?"  she  added  with 
a  change  of  voice.  "  You  need  not  come ;  I  could 
look  after  her.  If  you  think  that  Egypt  or  the  other 
place  is  too  far,  you  know  the  doctors  say  that  perhaps 
Switzerland  would  do  her  good,  and  that  is  quite 
near." 

He  caught  hold  of  this  suggestion,  and  exclaimed, 
with  a  sneer : 

"  I  know  why  you  want  to  go  to  Switzerland,  Miss. 
To  run  after  that  whipper-snapper  of  a  parson's  son, 
eh?  Well,  you  shan't.  And  as  for  why  I  won't  let 
her  go,  it's  because  I  don't  believe  those  doctors,  who 
say  one  minute  that  she  should  go  to  Egypt,  which  is 
hot,  and  the  next  to  Switzerland,  which  is  cold.  More- 
over, I  mean  you  to  stop  in  England,  and  not  go  fool- 
ing about  with  a  lot  of  strange  men  in  these  foreign 
places.  You  are  grown  up  now  and  out,  and  I  have 
my  own  plans  for  your  future,  which  can't  come  off 


MR.  KNIGHT  AND  DUTY  127 

if  you  are  away.  We  stop  here  till  Christmas,  and 
then  go  to  London.  There,  that's  all,  so  have  done." 

At  these  insults,  especially  that  which  had  to  do  with 
Godfrey,  Isobel  turned  perfectly  scarlet  and  bit  her 
lip  till  the  blood  ran.  Then  without  another  word  she 
went  away,  leaving  him,  if  the  truth  were  known,  a 
little  frightened.  Still,  he  would  not  alter  his  decision, 
partly  because  to  do  so  must  interfere  with  his  plans, 
and  he  was  a  very  obstinate  man,  and  partly  because 
he  refused  to  be  beaten  by  Isobel.  This  was,  he  felt,  a 
trial  of  strength  between  them,  and  if  he  gave  way 
now,  she  would  be  master.  His  wife's  welfare  did 
not  enter  into  his  calculations. 

So  they  stopped  in  Essex,  where  matters  went  as 
the  doctors  had  foretold,  only  more  quickly  than  they 
expected.  Lady  Jane's  complaint  grew  rapidly  worse, 
so  rapidly  that  soon  there  was  no  question  of  her  go- 
ing abroad.  At  the  last  moment  Sir  John  grew  fright- 
ened, as  bullies  are  apt  to  do,  and  on  receipt  of  an  in- 
dignant letter  from  Lord  Lynfield,  now  an  old  man, 
who  had  been  informed  of  the  facts  by  his  grand- 
daughter, offered  to  send  his  wife  to  Egypt,  or  any- 
where else.  Again  the  doctors  were  called  in  to  report, 
and  told  him  with  brutal  frankness  that  if  their  advice 
had  been  taken  when  it  was  first  given,  probably  she 
would  have  lived  for  some  years.  As  it  was,  it  was 
impossible  for  her  to  travel,  since  the  exertion  might 
cause  her  death  upon  the  journey,  especially  if  she 
became  seasick. 

This  verdict  came  to  Isobel's  knowledge  as  the  first 
had  done.  Indeed,  in  his  confusion,  emphasized  by 
several  glasses  of  port,  her  father  blurted  it  out  him- 
self. 


128  LOVE  ETERNAL 

"  I  wonder  whether  you  will  ever  be  sorry,"  was 
her  sole  comment. 

Then  she  sat  down  to  watch  her  mother  die,  and 
to  think.  Could  there  be  any  good  God,  she  wondered, 
if  He  allowed  such  things  to  happen.  Poor  girl !  it  was 
her  first  experience  of  the  sort,  and  as  yet  she  did  not 
know  what  things  are  allowed  to  happen  in  this  world 
in  obedience  to  the  workings  of  unalterable  laws  by 
whoever  and  for  whatever  purpose  these  may  be  de- 
creed. 

Being  ignorant,  however,  and  still  very  young  and 
untaught  of  life,  she  could  not  be  expected  to  take 
these  large  views,  or  to  guess  at  the  Hand  of  Mercy 
which  holds  the  cup  of  human  woes.  She  saw  her 
mother  fading  away  because  of  her  father's  obstinacy 
and  self-seeking,  and  it  was  inconceivable  to  her  that 
such  an  utterly  unnecessary  thing  could  be  allowed  by 
a  gentle  and  loving  Providence.  Therefore,  she  turned 
her  back  on  Providence,  as  many  a  strong  soul  has 
done  before  her,  rejecting  it  for  the  reason  that  she 
could  not  understand. 

Had  she  but  guessed,  this  attitude  of  hers,  which 
could  not  be  concealed  entirely  in  the  case  of  a  nature 
so  frank  and  open,  was  the  bitterest  drop  in  her 
mother's  draught  of  death.  She,  poor  gentle  creature, 
made  no  complaints,  but  only  excuses  for  her  hus- 
band's conduct.  Nor,  save  for  Isobel's  sake  did  she 
desire  to  live.  Her  simple  faith  upbore  her  through 
the  fears  of  departure,  and  assured  her  of  forgiveness 
for  all  errors,  and  of  happiness  beyond  in  a  land 
where  there  was  one  at  least  whom  she  wished  to 
meet. 

"  I  won't  try  to  argue  with  you,  because  I  am  not 


MR.  KNIGHT  AND  DUTY  129 

wise  enough  to  understand  such  things,"  she  said  to 
Isobel,  "  but  I  wish,  dearest,  that  you  would  not  be  so 
certain  as  to  matters  which  are  too  high  for  us." 

"  I  can't  help  it,  Mother,"  she  answered. 

Lady  Jane  looked  at  her  and  smiled,  and  then  said : 

"  No,  darling,  you  can't  help  it  now,  but  I  am  sure 
that  a  time  must  come  when  you  will  think  differently. 
I  say  this  because  something  tells  me  that  it  is  so,  and 
the  knowledge  makes  me  very  happy.  You  see  we 
must  all  of  us  go  through  darkness  and  storms  in  life; 
that  is  if  we  are  worth  anything,  for,  of  course,  there 
are  people  who  do  not  feel.  Yet  at  the  end  there  is 
light,  and  love,  and  peace,  for  you  as  well  as  for  me, 
Isobel;  yes,  and  for  all  of  us  who  have  tried  to  trust 
and  to  repent  of  what  we  have  done  wrong." 

"  As  you  believe  it  I  hope  that  it  is  true;  indeed,  I 
think  that  it  must  be  true,  Mother  dear,"  said  Isobel 
with  a  little  sob. 

The  subject  was  never  discussed  between  them  again, 
but  although  Isobel  showed  no  outward  change  of 
attitude,  from  that  time  forward  till  the  end,  her 
mother  seemed  much  easier  in  her  mind  about  her 
and  her  views. 

"  It  will  all  come  right.  We  shall  meet  again.  I 
know  it.  I  know  it,"  were  her  last  words. 

She  died  quite  suddenly  on  the  27th  of  December, 
the  day  upon  which  Sir  John  had  announced  that  they 
were  to  move  to  London. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  one  of  the  survivors  of  this  trio 
was  to  move  much  further  than  to  London,  namely, 
Isobel  herself.  It  happened  thus.  The  funeral  was 
over ;  the  relatives  and  the  few  friends  who  attended  it 


130  LOVE  ETERNAL 

had  departed,  to  their  rooms  if  they  were  stopping  in 
the  house,  or  elsewhere;  Isobel  and  her  father  were 
left  alone.  She  confronted  him,  a  tall,  slim  figure, 
whose  thick  blonde  hair  and  pale  face  contrasted  strik- 
ingly with  her  black  dress.  Enormous  in  shape,  for 
so  Sir  John  had  grown,  carmine-coloured  shading  to 
purple  about  the  shaved  chin  and  lips  (which  were 
also  of  rather  a  curious  hue),  bald-headed,  bold  yet 
shifty-eyed,  also  clad  in  black,  with  a  band  of  crape 
like  to  that  of  a  Victorian  mute,  about  his  shining  tall 
hat,  he  leaned  against  the  florid,  marble  mantelpiece, 
a  huge  obese  blot  upon  its  whiteness.  They  were  a 
queer  contrast,  as  dissimilar  perhaps  as  two  human 
beings  well  could  be. 

For  a  while  there  was  silence  between  them,  which 
he,  whose  nerves  were  not  so  young  or  strong  as  his 
daughter's,  was  the  first  to  break. 

"  Well,  she's  dead,  poor  dear,"  he  said. 

"  Yes,"  answered  Isobel,  her  pent-up  indignation 
bursting  forth,  "  and  you  killed  her." 

Then  he  too  burst  forth. 

"  Damn  you,  what  do  you  mean,  you  little  minx?  " 
he  asked.  "  Why  do  you  say  I  killed  her,  because  I 
did  what  I  thought  the  best  for  all  of  us?  No  woman 
had  a  better  husband,  as  I  am  sure  she  acknowledges 
in  heaven  to-day." 

"  I  don't  know  what  Mother  thinks  in  heaven,  if 
there  is  one  for  her,  as  there  ought  to  be.  But  I  do 
know  what  I  think  on  earth,"  remarked  the  burning 
Isobel. 

"  And  I  know  what  I  think  also,"  shouted  her  en- 
raged parent,  dashing  the  new,  crape-covered  hat  on  to 
the  table  in  front  of  him,  "  and  it  is  that  the  further 


MR.  KNIGHT  AND  DUTY  131 

you  and  I  are  apart  from  each  other,  the  better  we  are 
likely  to  get  on." 

"  I  agree  with  you,  Father." 

"  Look  here,  Isobel,  you  said  that  your  uncle  Edgar, 
who  has  been  appointed  Minister  to  Mexico,  offered  to 
take  you  with  him  to  be  a  companion  to  his  daughter, 
your  cousin  Emily.  Well,  you  can  go  if  you  like.  I'll 
pay  the  shot  and  shut  up  this  house  for  a  while.  I'm 
sick  of  the  cursed  place,  and  can  get  to  Harwich  just  as 
well  from  London.  Write  and  make  the  arrange- 
ments, for  one  year,  no  more.  By  that  time  your 
temper  may  have  improved,"  he  added  with  an  ugly 
sneer. 

"  Thank  you,  Father,  I  will." 

He  stared  at  her  for  a  little  while.  She  met  his  gaze 
unflinchingly,  and  in  the  end  it  was  not  her  eyes  that 
dropped.  Then  with  a  smothered  exclamation  he 
stamped  out  of  the  room,  kicking  Isobel's  little  terrier 
out  of  the  path  with  his  elephantine  foot.  The  poor 
beast,  of  which  she  was  very  fond,  limped  to  her  whin- 
ing, for  it  was  much  hurt.  She  took  it  in  her  arms 
and  kissed  it,  weeping  tears  of  wrath  and  pity. 

"  I  wonder  what  Godfrey  would  say  about  the  fifth 
Commandment  if  he  had  been  here  this  afternoon,  you 
poor  thing,"  she  whispered  to  the  Whimpering  dog, 
which  was  licking  its  hanging  leg.  "  There  is  no 
God.  If  there  had  been  He  would  not  have  given  me 
such  a  father,  or  my  mother  such  a  husband." 

Then  still  carrying  the  injured  terrier,  she  went  out 
and  glided  through  the  darkness  to  her  mother's  grave 
in  the  neighbouring  churchyard.  The  sextons  had 
done  their  work,  and  the  raw,  brown  earth  of  the 
grave,  mixed  with  bits  of  decayed  coffins  and  frag- 


132  LOVE  ETERNAL 

ments  of  perished  human  bones,  was  covered  with  hot- 
house flowers.  Among  these  lay  a  gorgeous  wreath 
of  white  and  purple  orchids,  to  which  was  tied  a  card 
whereon  was  written :  "  To  my  darling  wife,  from  her 
bereaved  husband,  John  Blake." 

Isobel  lifted  the  wreath  from  its  place  of  honour  and 
threw  it  over  the  churchyard  wall.  Then  she  wept  and 
wept  as  though  her  heart  would  break. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE   PASTEUR    TAKES   THE   FIELD 

IN  due  course  Godfrey  received  an  epistle  of  frigid  con- 
gratulation from  his  father  upon  his  accession  to 
wealth  which,  he  remarked,  would  be  of  assistance  to 
him  in  his  future  clerical  career.  The  rest  of  the  let- 
ter was  full  of  complaints  against  the  indignities  that 
had  been  heaped  upon  him  by  Miss  Ogilvy's  executors 
and  trustees,  and  also  against  Godfrey  himself  for  not 
having  furnished  him  with  more  information  concern- 
ing the  circumstances  surrounding  his  inheritance. 
Lastly,  Mr.  Knight  enclosed  a  paper  which  he  re- 
quested Godfrey  to  sign  and  return,  authorizing  him 
to  deal  with  the  income  of  the  legacy. 

This  Godfrey  did  obediently,  only  a  week  or  two 
later  to  receive  a  formal  notification  from  the  lawyers, 
sent  to  him  direct  this  time  as  his  address  had  been 
filled  in  on  the  Authority,  informing  him  that  he  had 
no  power  to  sign  such  documents,  he  being  an  infant 
under  age,  and  suggesting  that  he  should  refrain 
from  doing  so  in  the  future.  Enclosed  were  copies 
of  their  first  letter  to  him,  and  of  the  other  documents 
which  Mr.  Knight  had  not  thought  it  worth  while  to 
forward  because,  as  he  said,  they  were  heavy  and 
foreign  postage  was  so  expensive. 

Further  the  trustees  announced  that  they  proposed 
to  allow  him  £50  a  year  out  of  the  income  for  his 
personal  needs,  which  would  be  paid  half-yearly,  and 

133 


134  LOVE  ETERNAL 

enclosed  a  draft  for  £25,  which  was  more  money  than 
ever  Godfrey  had  possessed  before.  This  draft  he 
was  desired  to  acknowledge,  and  generally  to  keep 
himself  in  touch  with  the  trustees,  and  to  consult  them 
before  taking  any  step  of  importance,  also  as  to  his 
future  career. 

All  this,  with  the  sense  of  independence  which  it 
gave  him,  was  agreeable  enough  to  Godfrey,  ?.s  it 
would  have  been  to  any  youth.  He  acknowledged  the 
draft  under  the  guidance  of  the  Pasteur,  saying  that 
he  would  write  again  when  he  had  anything  to  com- 
municate, but  that  as  yet  he  had  not  made  up  his  mind 
as  to  his  future,  and  proposed  to  stay  where  he  was, 
continuing  his  studies,  if  his  father  would  allow  him 
to  do  so.  Next  he  took  an  opportunity  to  go  to  Lu- 
cerne with  the  Pasteur,  who  wished  to  inspect  the  Villa 
Ogilvy  and  consult  the  notary  as  to  an  inventory  of  its 
contents  and  arrangements  for  its  upkeep. 

Godfrey,  who  was  received  by  the  servants  with 
many  bows,  and  requests  that  they  might  be  allowed 
to  continue  in  their  employment,  wandered  through  the 
big  rooms  which  looked  so  desolate  now,  and  stared 
until  he  was  tired  at  examples  of  beautiful  French 
furniture,  of  which  he  understood  nothing.  Then,  op- 
pressed by  memories  of  his  kind  friend  into  whose 
death  chamber  he  had  blundered,  and,  as  it  seemed  to 
him,  by  a  sense  of  her  presence  which  he  imagined 
was  warning  him  of  something,  he  left  the  house,  tell- 
ing the  Pasteur,  who  was  peering  about  him  through 
his  blue  spectacles  in  an  innocent  and  interested  way, 
that  he  would  meet  him  at  the  five  o'clock  diligence. 
Indeed,  he  had  business  of  his  own  to  do,  which  seemed 
to  him  more  important  than  all  this  stock-taking  and 


THE  PASTEUR  TAKES  THE  FIELD      135 

legal  discussion.  Having  plenty  of  money  in  his 
pocket  Godfrey  wished  to  spend  some  of  it  in  pres- 
ents. 

First,  he  bought  a  large  meerschaum  pipe  with  a 
flexible  stem  as  a  gift  to  the  Pasteur,  whom  he  had 
heard  admire  this  very  pipe  in  the  shop  window  and 
express  regrets  that  it  was  too  expensive  for  his 
means.  Having  paid  down  thirty  francs  like  a  man 
for  this  treasure,  he  proceeded  to  a  jeweller's  near 
by.  There  he  acquired  a  necklace  of  amethysts  set 
with  great  taste  in  local  silver  work,  for  Madame  to 
wear,  and  a  charming  silver  watch  of  the  best  Swiss 
make  for  Juliette.  When  he  found  that  these  objects 
involved  an  expenditure  of  fourteen  sovereigns,  he 
was  a  little  staggered,  but  again  smiled  and  paid  up. 
There  was  also  a  lovely  little  ring  of  gold  with  two 
turquoise  hearts  that  he  bought  for  £2  to  send  to  Isobel 
when  she  wrote  to  him.  But,  as  Isobel  had  posted  her 
letter  in  Mr.  Knight's  drawer,  that  ring  never  reached 
her  ringer  for  many  a  day. 

These  gifts  safely  in  his  pocket,  he  began  to  stroll 
towards  the  railway  station,  whence  the  diligence 
started,  slowly,  as  he  had  plenty  of  time.  As  he  went 
he  saw,  in  a  shop  window,  a  beautiful  stick  of  olive 
wood,  with  an  ebony  crook.  It  was  marked  ten  francs, 
and  he  coveted  it  greatly,  but  reflected  with  a  sigh 
that  having  spent  so  much  on  others  he  could  afford 
nothing  for  himself,  for  Godfrey  was  an  unselfish  soul. 
Instead  he  bought  a  collar  of  Swiss  lace  for  Mrs.  Par- 
sons. Immediately  after  he  left  the  lace  shop  he  be- 
came aware  that  he  was  being  shadowed.  He  heard  no 
footfall,  and  he  saw  no  one,  yet  he  knew  that  this  was 
so;  he  could  feel  it  down  his  back,  and  in  a  cold  wind 


136  LOVE  ETERNAL 

which  blew  across  his  hands,  as  it  had  done  always 
at  the  Villa  Ogilvy  seances. 

The  road  that  he  was  following  led  across  some 
public  gardens  beneath  an  avenue  of  trees,  which,  of 
course,  at  this  time  of  the  year,  were  leafless.  This 
avenue  was  lighted  here  and  there,  and  beneath  one 
of  the  gas  lamps  Godfrey  wheeled  round  to  see 
Madame  Riennes  advancing  on  him  out  of  the  gloom. 
Her  stout  form  padded  forward  noiselessly,  except  for 
the  occasional  crackle  of  a  dead  and  frosted  leaf  be- 
neath her  foot.  She  wore  a  thick  cloak  of  some  sort 
with  a  black  hood  that  framed  her  large,  white  face, 
making  her  look  like  a  monk  of  the  Inquisition  as  de- 
picted in  various  old  prints.  Beneath  the  blackness 
of  this  hood  and  above  the  rigid  line  of  the  set  mouth, 
stared  two  prominent  and  glowing  eyes,  in  which  the 
gaslight  was  reflected.  They  reminded  Godfrey  of 
those  of  a  stalking  cat  in  a  dark  room.  Indeed,  from 
the  moment  that  he  caught  sight  of  them  he  felt  like 
the  mouse  cowering  in  a  corner,  or  like  a  bird  in  a  tree 
fascinated  by  the  snake  that  writhes  towards  it  along 
the  bough. 

"  Ah !  mon  petit"  said  Madame,  in  her  thick, 
creamy  voice,  that  seemed  to  emerge  from  her  lower 
regions,  "  so  I  have  found  you.  I  was  walking 
through  the  town  and  a  notion  came  to  me  that  you 
were  here,  a — what  you  call  it? — instinct  like  that 
which  make  the  dog  find  its  master.  Only  I  master 
and  you  dog,  eh  ?  " 

Godfrey  tried  to  pull  himself  together,  feeling  that 
it  would  not  be  wise  to  show  fear  of  this  woman,  and 
greeted  her  as  politely  as  he  could,  taking  off  his  hat 
with  a  flourish  in  the  foreign  fashion. 


THE  PASTEUR  TAKES  THE  FIELD      137 

"  Put  that  hat  back  on  your  head,  mon  petit,  or  you 
will  catch  cold  and  be  ill,  you  who  are  much  too  pre- 
cious to  be  ill.  Listen,  now :  I  have  something  to  say 
to  you.  You  have  great  luck,  have  you  not?  Ah! 
sweet  Sister  Helen,  she  go  to  join  the  speerits  quite 
quick,  as  I  tell  her  a  little  while  ago  she  will  do,  and 
she  leaves  you  much  money,  though  to  me,  her  old 
friend,  her  sister  in  the  speerit,  she  give  not  one  sou, 
although  she  know  I  want  it.  Well,  I  think  there  some 
mistake,  and  I  wish  to  talk  to  Sister  Helen  about  this 
money  business.  I  think  she  leave  me  something, 
somehow,  if  I  can  find  out  where.  And  you,  dear 
petit,  can  help  me.  Next  Sunday  you  will  come  to  my 
rooms  of  which  I  give  you  address,"  and  she  thrust 
a  card  into  his  hand,  "  and  we  will  talk  with  Sister 
Helen,  or  at  least  with  Eleanor,  your  little  friend." 

Godfrey  shook  his  head  vigorously,  but  she  took  no 
notice. 

"  What  have  you  been  buying,"  she  went  on,  "  with 
Sister  Helen's  money?  Presents,  I  think.  Yes,  yes, 
I  see  them  in  your  pocket,"  and  she  fixed  her  eyes 
upon  the  unhappy  Godfrey's  stomach,  at  least  that  is 
where  he  felt  them. 

"  Oh !  very  pretty  presents.  Necklace  for  the  fine 
Madame,  of  whom  I  can  tell  you  some  stories.  Watch 
for  pretty  Mees,  with  the  red,  pouting  lips,  so  nice  to 
kiss.  Pipe  for  good  old  Pasteur,  to  smoke  while  he 
think  of  heaven,  where  one  time  he  sit  all  day  and  do 
nothing  for  ever;  lace  for  someone  else,  I  know  not 
who,  and  I  think  a  charming  ring  for  one  who  will  not 
wear  it  just  yet;  a  big  girl  with  a  pale  face  and  eyes 
that  flash,  but  can  grow  soft.  One  who  would  know 
how  to  love,  eh !  Yes,  not  a  doll,  but  one  who  would 


138  LOVE  ETERNAL 

know  how  to  love  like  a  woman  should.  Am  I 
right?" 

The  confused  Godfrey  babbled  something  about  a 
shop,  and  was  silent. 

"  Well,  never  mind  the  shop,  my  leetle  friend.  You 
come  to  my  shop  next  Sunday,  eh?  " 

"  No,"  said  Godfrey,  "  I  have  had  enough  of 
spirits." 

"  Yes,  perhaps,  though  the  speerits  have  been  your 
good  friends,  taking  Sister  Helen,  who  has  left  some- 
thing behind  her.  But  those  dear  speerits,  they  have 
not  had  enough  of  you;  they  very  faithful  souls,  es- 
pecially that  pretty  Eleanor.  I  tell  you,  Mr.  Godfrey, 
you  will  come  to  see  me  next  Sunday,  and  if  you  not 
come,  I'll  fetch  you." 

"Fetch  me!    How?" 

"  Look  at  my  eyes,  that's  how.  I  put  you  to  sleep 
many  times  now,  and  I  have  power  to  make  you  come 
where  I  want  and  do  what  I  wish.  You  do  not  believe 
me,  eh?  Well,  now  I  show  you.  Come,  mon  petit, 
and  give  your  dear  godmamma  a  kiss,"  and  she  smiled 
at  him  like  an  ogress. 

Now  the  last  thing  in  the  whole  world  that  Godfrey 
wished  to  do  was  to  embrace  Madame  Riennes,  whom 
he  loathed  so  that  every  fibre  of  his  body  shrank  from 
her.  Yet,  oh  horror!  a  wild  impulse  to  kiss  her  took 
possession  of  him.  In  vain  he  struggled;  he  tried  to 
step  backwards,  and  instead  went  forwards,  he  tried 
to  turn  his  head  away,  but  those  glowing  eyes  held 
and  drew  him  as  a  magnet  draws  a  needle.  And  as 
the  needle  rolls  across  the  table  ever  more  quickly 
towards  the  magnet,  so  did  the  unwilling  Godfrey 
gravitate  towards  Madame  Riennes.  And  now,  oh ! 


THE  PASTEUR  TAKES  THE  FIELD      139 

now  her  stout  arm  was  about  his  neck,  and  now — he 
was  impressing  a  fervent  embrace  upon  her  dome-like 
brow. 

"  There !  What  did  I  tell  you,  you  nice,  kind,  little 
Godfrey,"  she  gurgled  with  a  hollow  laugh.  "  Your 
dear  godmamma  thanks  you,  and  you  must  run  to  catch 
that  diligence.  Au  revoir  till  Sunday  afternoon.  Do 
not  trouble  about  the  hour,  you  will  know  exactly 
when  to  start.  Now  go." 

She  made  a  movement  of  her  big,  white  hand,  with 
the  result  that  Godfrey  felt  like  a  spring  which  had 
been  suddenly  released.  Next  instant,  still  pursued 
by  that  gurgling  laughter,  he  was  running  hard  to- 
wards the  diligence. 

Fortunately  the  Pasteur  was  so  full  of  talk  about  the 
house  and  his  business  with  the  notary,  that  there  was 
no  need  for  Godfrey  to  speak  in  the  coach,  or  indeed 
at  dinner.  Then  after  the  meal  was  finished  he  pro- 
duced his  presents,  and  with  blushes  and  stammers 
offered  them  to  the  various  members  of  the  family. 
What  rapture  there  was !  Madame  was  delighted  with 
her  necklace,  which  she  said  and  truly,  was  in  the 
best  of  taste.  Juliette  kissed  the  watch,  and  looked 
as  though  she  would  like  to  kiss  the  donor,  as  indeed 
was  her  case.  The  Pasteur  examined  the  fine  pipe 
through  his  blue  spectacles,  saying  that  never  had  he 
expected  to  own  one  so  beautiful,  then  at  once  filled 
it  and  began  to  smoke.  After  this  they  all  scolded 
him  for  his  extravagance. 

"  You  did  not  buy  anything  for  yourself,'*  said 
Juliette,  reproachfully.  "  Oh !  yes,  I  see  you  did,"  and 
she  pretended  to  perceive  for  the  first  time  the  little  red 
case  containing  the  ring,  which  inadvertently  he  had 


HO  LOVE  ETERNAL 

pulled  out  of  his  pocket  with  the  other  articles,  al- 
though in  truth  she  had  observed  it  from  the  begin- 
ning. "  Let  us  learn  what  it  is,"  she  went  on,  posses- 
sing herself  of  and  opening  the  case.  "Oh!  a  ring, 
what  a  pretty  ring,  with  two  hearts.  For  whom  is  the 
ring,  Monsieur  Godfrey?  Someone  in  England?" 

Then  Godfrey,  overcome,  told  a  lie. 

"  No,  for  myself,"  he  said. 

Juliette  looked  at  him  and  exclaimed: 

"  Then  you  should  have  told  the  jeweller  to  make  it 
big  enough.  Try  and  you  will  see." 

He  turned  red  as  a  boiled  lobster.  Mademoiselle 
stood  opposite  to  him,  shaking  her  pretty  head,  and 
murmuring :  "  Quel  mensonge!  Quel  bete  mensonge!  " 
while  Madame  broke  into  a  low  and  melodious  laugh- 
ter, and  as  she  laughed,  looked  first  at  the  ring  and 
then  at  Juliette's  shapely  hand. 

"  Make  not  a  mock  of  our  young  friend,"  said  the 
Pasteur,  suddenly  lifting  his  glance,  or  rather  his 
spectacles  from  a  long  contemplation  of  that  noble 
pipe  and  becoming  aware  of  what  was  passing. 
"  We  all  have  our  presents,  which  are  magnificent. 
What  then  is  our  affair  with  the  ring?  Pardon  them, 
and  put  it  in  your  pocket,  Godfrey,  and  come,  let  us 
go  to  the  observatory,  for  the  night  is  fine,  and  by 
now  the  stove  will  be  warm." 

So  they  went,  and  soon  were  engaged  in  contem- 
plation of  the  stars,  an  occupation  which  absorbed 
Godfrey  so  much  that  for  a  while  he  forgot  all  his 
troubles. 

When  the  door  had  shut  behind  them  Madame 
looked  at  Juliette,  who  with  her  new  watch  held  to  her 
ear,  observed  her  out  of  the  corners  of  her  eyes. 


THE  PASTEUR  TAKES  THE  FIELD     141 

"  I  find  him  charming/'  said  Madame  presently. 

"  Yes,  Mamma,"  replied  Juliette,  "  so  bright  and 
even  the  tick  is  musical." 

"  Stupid !  "  exclaimed  Madame.  "  When  I  was  your 
age — well." 

"  Pardon ! "  said  Juliette,  opening  her  eyes  inno- 
cently. 

"  Child,  I  meant  our  young  English  friend.  I  re- 
peat that  I  find  him  charming." 

"Of  course,  Mamma — after  that  necklace." 

"  And  you — after  that  watch  ?  " 

"  Oh !  well  enough,  though  too  grave  perhaps,  and 
fond  of  what  is  far  off — I  mean  stars,"  she  added  hur- 
riedly. 

"  Stars !  Pish !  It  is  but  because  there  is  nothing 
nearer.  At  his  age — stars! — well  of  a  sort,  perhaps." 

She  paused  while  Juliette  still  looked  provokingly 
innocent.  So  her  mother  took  a  long  step  forward,  for 
in  truth  she  grew  impatient  with  all  this  obtuseness  in 
which,  for  reasons  of  her  own,  she  did  not  believe. 

"  If  I  were  a  girl  of  your  age,"  mused  Madame  as 
though  to  herself,  "  I  do  not  think  that  ring  would  go 
to  England." 

"  How,  Mamma,  would  you  steal  it?  " 

"  No,  but  I  would  make  sure  that  it  was  given  to 
me." 

Now  Juliette  could  no  longer  feign  not  to  under- 
stand. She  said  nothing,  but  turned  as  red  as  Godfrey 
had  done  a  little  while  before  and  stood  waiting. 

"  I  find  him  charming,"  repeated  Madame,  "  though 
he  is  so  young,  which  is  a  fault  that  will  mend,"  and 
she  fixed  her  eyes  upon  her  daughter's  face  with  a  look 
of  interrogation. 


142  LOVE  ETERNAL 

Then  Juliette  gave  a  little  sigh  and  answered : 

"  Good.  If  you  will  make  me  say  it,  so  do  I  also, 
at  least,  sometimes  I  think  so,  when  he  is  not  dull," 
and  turning  she  fled  from  the  room. 

Madame  smiled  as  the  door  closed  behind  her. 

"  That  goes  well,  and  should  go  better,"  she  said  to 
herself.  "  Only,  for  whom  is  the  ring?  There  must 
be  some  girl  in  England,  although  of  her  he  says 
nothing.  Pestel  There  are  so  many  girls.  Still,  she 
is  far  away,  and  this  one  is  near.  But  it  could  be 
wished  that  she  were  more  experienced,  for  then,  since 
she  likes  him  well  enough,  all  would  be  sure.  What 
does  a  man  count  in  such  a  case — especially  when  he  is 
so  young?  Pish!  nothing  at  all,"  and  Madame 
snapped  her  ringers  at  the  empty  air.  "  It  is  the  woman 
who  holds  the  cards,  if  only  she  knows  how  to  play 
them." 

Now  all  these  things  happened  on  a  Wednesday. 
When  Godfrey  went  to  bed  that  night  uncomfortable 
memories  of  Madame  Riennes,  and  of  the  chaste  em- 
brace which  she  had  forced  him  to  impress  upon  her 
expansive  forehead,  haunted  him  for  a  while,  also  fears 
for  the  future.  However,  Sunday  was  still  a  long 
way  off,  so  he  went  to  sleep  and  dreamed  that  he  was 
buying  presents  at  every  shop  in  Lucerne  and  giving 
them  all  to  Madame  Riennes. 

On  Thursday  he  was  quite  happy.  On  Friday  he 
began  to  suffer  from  uneasiness,  which  on  Saturday 
became  very  pronounced.  It  seemed  to  him  that  al- 
ready waves  of  influence  were  creeping  towards  him 
like  the  fringes  of  some  miasmic  mist.  Doubtless  it 
was  imagination,  but  he  could  feel  their  first  frail 
tentacles  wrapping  themselves  around  his  will,  and 


THE  PASTEUR  TAKES  THE  FIELD      143 

drawing  him  towards  Lucerne.  As  the  day  went  on 
the  tentacles  grew  stronger,  till  by  evening  there  might 
have  been  a  very  octopus  behind  them.  If  this  were 
so  that  night,  he  wondered  what  would  happen  on 
the  following  day,  when  the  octopus  began  to  pull. 
On  one  point  he  was  determined.  He  would  not  go; 
never  would  he  allow  Madame  Riennes  to  put  him  to 
sleep  again,  and  what  was  much  worse  to  make  him 
kiss  her.  At  any  rate  that  spirit,  Eleanor,  was  beau- 
tiful and  attractive — but  Madame  Riennes!  Rather 
than  forgather  with  her  again  in  this  affectionate  man- 
ner, much  as  he  dreaded  it — or  her — he  would  have 
compounded  with  the  ghost  called  Eleanor. 

Now1,  although  like  most  young  people,  Godfrey 
was  indolent  and  evasive  of  difficulties,  fearful  of  fac- 
ing troubles  also,  he  had  a  bedrock  of  character. 
There  were  points  beyond  which  he  would  not  go, 
even  for  the  sake  of  peace.  But  here  a  trouble  came 
in;  he  was  well  aware  that  although  he  would  not  go 
— to  Madame  Riennes  to  wit — there  was  something 
within  him  stronger  than  himself  which  would  make 
him  go.  It  was  the  old  story  over  again  set  out  by  St. 
Paul  once  and  for  ever,  that  of  the  two  laws  which 
make  a  shuttlecock  of  man  so  that  he  must  do  what  he 
wills  not.  Having  once  given  way  to  Madame 
Riennes,  who  to  him  was  a  kind  of  sin  incarnate,  he 
had  become  her  servant,  and  if  she  wished  to  put  him 
to  sleep,  or  to  do  anything  else  with  him,  well,  however 
much  he  hated  it,  he  must  obey. 

The  thought  terrified  him.  What  could  he  do? 
He  had  tried  prayers,  never  before  had  he  prayed  so 
hard  in  all  his  life;  but  they  did  not  seem  to  be  of 
the  slightest  use.  No  guardian  angel,  not  even 


144  LOVE  ETERNAL 

Eleanor,  appeared  to  protect  him  from  Madame 
Riennes,  and  meanwhile,  the  fog  was  creeping  on,  and 
the  octopus  tentacles  were  gripping  tighter.  In  his 
emergency  there  rose  the  remembrance  of  Miss  Ogil- 
vy's  dying  counsel,  welcome  and  unexpected  as  light 
of  the  moon  to  a  lost  traveller  on  a  cloud-clothed  night. 
What  had  she  told  him  to  do?  To  resist  Madame 
Riennes.  He  had  tried  that  with  lamentable  results. 
To  invoke  the  help  of  religion.  He  had  tried  that  with 
strictly  negative  results;  the  Powers  above  did  not 
seem  inclined  to  intervene  in  this  private  affair.  To 
appeal  to  the  Pasteur.  That  he  had  not  tried  but,  un- 
promising as  the  venture  seemed  to  be,  by  Jove!  he 
would.  In  his  imminent  peril  there  was  nothing  to 
which  he  would  not  have  appealed,  even  Mumbo- 
Jumbo  itself  if  it  gave  him  the  slightest  hope  of  pro- 
tection from  Madame  Riennes. 

Accordingly,  when  they  went  to  the  observatory  that 
night,  instead  of  applying  his  eye  to  the  telescope  in 
the  accustomed  fashion,  Godfrey  rushed  at  the  busi- 
ness like  a  bull  at  a  gate.  At  first  the  Pasteur  was 
entirely  confused,  especially  as  Godfrey  spoke  in  Eng- 
lish, which  his  preceptor  must  translate  into  French  in 
his  own  mind.  By  degrees,  however,  he  became  ex- 
traordinarily interested,  so  much  so  that  he  let  the 
new  pipe  go  out,  and  what  was  very  rare  with  him, 
except  in  the  most  moving  passages  of  his  own  ser- 
mons, pushed  the  blue  spectacles  from  his  high  nose 
upwards,  till  they  caught  upon  the  patch  of  grizzled 
hair  which  remained  upon  his  bald  head. 

"  Ah !  "  he  said,  answering  in  French,  which  by 
now  Godfrey  understood  fairly  well,  "  this  is  truly 
exciting ;  at  last  I  come  in  touch  with  the  thing.  Know, 


THE  PASTEUR  TAKES  THE  FIELD      145 

Godfrey,  that  you  furnish  me  with  a  great  occasion. 
Long  have  I  studied  this,  what  you  call  it — demon- 
ology.  Of  it  I  know  much,  though  not  from  actual 
touch  therewith." 

Then  he  began  to  talk  of  gnosticism,  and  witch- 
craft, and  Incubl,  and  Succubi,  and  the  developments 
of  modern  spiritualism,  till  Godfrey  was  quite  bewil- 
dered. At  length  he  paused,  relit  the  new  pipe,  and 
said: 

"  These  matters  we  will  study  afterwards ;  they  are, 
I  assure  you,  most  entertaining.  Meanwhile,  we  have 
to  deal  with  your  Madame  Riennes.  All  right,  oh! 
quite  all  right.  I  will  be  her  match.  She  will  not 
make  me  kiss  her,  no,  not  at  all,  not  at  all !  Be  tran- 
quil, young  friend,  if  to-morrow  you  feel  the  impulse 
to  go,  go  you  shall,  but  I  will  go  with  you.  Then  we 
will  see.  Now  to  bed  and  sleep  well.  For  me,  I  must 
study;  I  have  many  books  on  this  subject,  and  there 
are  points  whereon  I  would  refresh  myself.  Be  not 
afraid.  I  know  much  of  Madame  Riennes  and  I  will 
leave  her  flat  as  that,"  and  with  surprising  alacrity  he 
jumped  on  a  large  black  beetle  which,  unhappily  for  it- 
self, just  then  ran  across  the  observatory  floor  to  enjoy 
the  warmth  of  the  stove.  "  Wait,"  he  added,  as  God- 
frey was  leaving.  "  First  kneel  down,  I  have  memory 
of  the  ancient  prayer,  or  if  I  forget  bits,  I  can  fill  in 
the  holes." 

Godfrey  obeyed  in  a  rather  abject  fashion,  whereon 
the  old  Pasteur,  waving  the  pipe  above  his  head,  from 
which  emerged  lines  of  blue  smoke  such  as  might  have 
been  accessory  to  an  incantation,  repeated  over  him 
something  in  Latin,  that,  owing  to  the  foreign  accent, 
he  could  not  in  the  least  understand.  It  ended,  how- 


146  LOVE  ETERNAL 

ever,  with  the  sign  of  the  cross  made  with  the  bowl 
of  the  pipe,  which  the  Pasteur  forgot  still  remained  in 
his  hand. 

Fortified  by  the  accession  of  this  new  ally,  Godfrey 
slept  fairly  well,  till  within  a  little  while  of  dawn,  when 
he  was  awakened  by  a  sound  of  rapping.  At  first  he 
thought  that  these  raps,  which  seemed  very  loud  and 
distinct,  were  made  by  someone  knocking  on  the  door, 
perhaps  to  tell  him  there  was  a  fire,  and  faintly  mur- 
mured "  Entrez"  Then  to  his  horror  he  became 
aware  that  they  proceeded,  not  from  the  door,  but 
from  the  back  of  his  wooden  bedstead,  immediately 
above  him,  and  at  the  same  time  recollected  that  he 
had  heard  similar  noises  while  sitting  at  the  little 
table  in  the  Villa  Ogilvy,  which  the  mystics  gathered 
there  declared  were  produced  by  spirits. 

His  hair  rose  upon  his  head,  a  cold  perspiration 
trickled  down  him;  he  shook  in  every  limb.  He 
thought  of  lighting  a  candle,  but  reflected  that  it  was 
on  the  chest  of  drawers  at  the  other  side  of  the  room, 
also  that  he  did  not  know  where  he  had  put  the 
matches.  He  thought  of  flying  to  the  Pasteur,  but 
remembered  that  to  do  so,  first  he  must  get  out  of 
bed,  and  perhaps  expose  his  bare  legs  to  the  assault 
of  ghostly  hands,  and  next  that,  to  reach  the  chamber 
of  Monsieur  and  Madame  Boiset,  he  must  pass 
through  the  sanctuary  of  the  room  occupied  by  Juli- 
ette. So  he  compromised  by  retiring  under  the  clothes, 
much  as  a  tortoise  draws  its  head  into  its  shell. 

This  expedient  proved  quite  useless,  for  there  be- 
neath the  blankets  the  raps  sounded  louder  than  ever. 
Moreover,  of  a  sudden  the  bed  seemed  to  be  filled 
with  a  cold  and  unnatural  air,  which  blew  all  about 


THE  PASTEUR  TAKES  THE  FIELD      147 

him,  especially  upon  his  hands,  though  he  tried  to  pro- 
tect these  by  placing  them  under  his  back.  Now  God- 
frey knew  something  of  the  inadequate  and  clumsy 
methods  affected  by  alleged  communicating  spirits,  and 
half  automatically  began  to  repeat  the  alphabet.  When 
he  got  to  the  letter  I,  there  was  a  loud  rap.  He  began 
again,  and  at  A  came  another  rap.  Once  more  he  tried, 
for  something  seemed  to  make  him  do  so,  and  was 
stopped  at  M. 

"  I  am,"  he  murmured,  and  recommenced  until  the 
word  "  here  "  was  spelt  out,  after  which  came  three 
rapid  raps  to  signify  a  full  stop. 

"  Who  is  here  ?  "  he  asked  in  his  own  mind,  at  the 
same  time  determining  that  he  would  leave  it  at  that. 
It  was  of  no  use  at  all,  for  the  other  party  evidently 
intended  to  go  on. 

There  was  a  perfect  rain  of  raps,  on  the  bed,  off  the 
bed,  on  the  floor,  even  on  the  jug  by  the  washstand; 
indeed,  he  thought  that  this  and  other  articles  were 
being  moved  about  the  room.  To  ston  this  multiform 
assault  once  more  he  took  refuge  in  the  alphabet,  with 
the  result  that  the  raps  unmistakably  spelt  the  word 
"  Eleanor." 

"Great  Heavens!"  he  thought  to  himself,  "that 
dreadful  spirit  girl  here,  in  my  bedroom!  How  can 
she?  It  is  most  improper,  but  I  don't  suppose  she 
cares  a  sou  for  that." 

In  his  despair  and  alarm  he  tucked  the  clothes  tightly 
round  him,  and  thrusting  out  his  head,  said  in  trem- 
bling accents : 

"  Please  go  away.  You  know  I  never  asked  you  to 
come,  and  really  it  isn't  right,"  remarks  which  he 
thought,  though,  like  all  the  rest,  this  may  have  been 


148  LOVE  ETERNAL 

fancy,  were  followed  by  a  sound  of  ghostly  laughter. 
What  was  more,  the  bedclothes  suddenly  slipped  off 
him,  or — oh  horror!  perhaps  they  were  pulled  off. 
At  any  rate,  they  went,  and  when  next  he  saw  them 
they  were  lying  in  a  heap  by  the  side  of  the  bed. 

Then  it  would  seem  that  he  fainted,  overcome  by 
these  terrors,  real  or  imaginary.  At  any  rate,  when  he 
opened  his  eyes  again  it  was  to  see  the  daylight  creep- 
ing into  tha  room  (never  before  had  he  appreciated 
so  thoroughly  the  beauties  of  the  dawn)  and  to  find 
himself  lying  half  frozen  on  the  bed  with  the  pillow, 
which  he  was  clasping  affectionately,  for  his  sole 
covering. 

At  breakfast  that  morning  he  looked  so  peculiar 
and  dilapidated,  that  Madame  and  Juliette  made  tender 
inquiries  after  his  health,  to  which  he  replied  that  his 
bedclothes  had  come  off  in  the  night  and  the  cold  had 
given  him  a  chill  "  in  the  middle."  They  were  very 
sympathetic,  and  dosed  him  with  hot  cafe-au-lait,  but 
the  Pasteur,  studying  him  through  the  blue  spectacles, 
said,  "Ah,  is  it  so?"  in  a  kind  of  triumphant  tone 
which  Madame  designated  as  "  bete."  Indeed,  to  those 
unacquainted  with  what  was  passing  in  M.  Boiset's 
mind,  it  must  have  seemed  particularly  stupid. 

When  breakfast  was  over  he  possessed  himself  of 
Godfrey,  and  led  him  to  the  observatory,  where  the 
stove  was  already  lit,  though  this  was  not  usual  in 
the  daytime,  especially  on  Sundays. 

"  Now,  my  boy,  tell  me  all  about  it,"  he  said,  and 
Godfrey  told  him,  feebly  suggesting  that  it  might  have 
been  a  nightmare. 

"  Nightmare !  Nonsense.  The  witch  Riennes  has 
sent  her  demon  to  torment  you,  that  is  all.  I  thought 


THE  PASTEUR  TAKES  THE  FIELD      149 

she  would.  It  is  quite  according  to  rule,  a  most  clear 
and  excellent  case.  Indeed,  I  am  a  lucky  student." 

"  I  don't  believe  in  witches,"  said  Godfrey,  "  I  al- 
ways heard  they  were  rubbish." 

"Ah!  I  don't  know.  Here  in  the  mountains  these 
Swiss  people  believe  in  them,  and  tell  strange  stories, 
some  of  which  I  have  heard  as  their  Pasteur,  especially 
when  I  held  office  among  the  High  Alps.  Also  the 
Bible  speaks  of  them  often,  does  it  not,  and  what  was, 
is,  and  shall  be,  as  Solomon  says.  Oh !  why  hesitate  ? 
Without  doubt  this  woman  is  a  witch  who  poses  as  an 
innocent  modern  spiritualist.  But  she  shall  not  send 
her  pretty  female  devil  after  you  again,  for  I  will 
make  that  room  impossible  to  her." 

"  Please  do,"  said  Godfrey.  "  And  as  for  Madame 
Riennes,  it  is  certainly  strange  that  she  should  have 
known  about  the  things  I  had  in  my  pocket  the  other 
day,  although  of  course,  she  may  have  followed  me 
into  the  shops." 

"  Yes,  yes,  she  followed  you  into  the  shops,  she  or 
her  demon,  though  perhaps  you  would  not  see  her 
there.  What  did  you  tell  me?  That  in  the  villa  you 
thought  that  the  dead  Mademoiselle  was  warning  you 
against  something?  Well,  perhaps  she  was,  for  she 
was  a  good  woman,  though  weak  and  foolish  to  trust 
to  spiritualism,  and  now,  without  doubt,  she  sees  all, 
and  would  protect  you  of  whom  she  is  fond." 

"  Then  I  wish  she  had  done  it  a  little  better,"  said 
Godfrey.  "  Oh !  listen,  there's  a  rap !  " 

A  rap  there  was  certainly,  on  the  hot  iron  of  the 
stove,  a  resonant,  ringing  rap.  The  Pasteur  advanced 
and  made  an  examination,  and  while  he  was  doing  so 
there  came  another.  What  is  more,  in  a  most  inex- 


150  LOVE  ETERNAL 

plicable  fashion  his  blue  spectacles  flew  from  his  nose. 
Very  solemnly  lie  found  and  replaced  them  and  then, 
with  the  utmost  dignity,  addressing  himself  to  the 
stove,  he  cursed  and  exorcised  that  article  of  domestic 
furniture  in  his  best  mediaeval  Latin.  Apparently  the 
effort  was  successful,  for  there  were  no  more  mani- 
festations. 

"  Listen,  my  boy.  You  do  not  part  from  me  this 
day.  Presently  we  go  to  church,  and  you  sit  under  me 
where  I  can  keep  my  eye  on  you.  If  you  make  one 
movement  towards  the  door,  I  descend  from  the 
desk  or  the  pulpit,  and  take  you  back  there  with 
me." 

"  I  don't  want  to  move,"  said  Godfrey. 

"  No,  but  there  are  others  who  may  want  to  move 
you.  Then  after  church  we  dine,  and  after  dinner  we 
take  a  nice  walk  through  the  woods  arm  in  arm.  Yes, 
perhaps  we  go  as  far  as  Lucerne  and  pay  a  little  visit 
there,  since  this  afternoon  I  have  arranged  that  there 
is  no  service." 

So  Godfrey  went  to  church  and  sat  under  the  cold, 
blue  glare  of  the  Pasteur's  spectacles,  listening  to  a 
really  eloquent  sermon,  for  his  preaching  was  excel- 
lent. He  took  his  text  from  the  story  of  Saul  and 
the  witch  of  Endor,  and  after  dwelling  on  it  and  its 
moral,  opened  up  the  whole  problem  of  the  hidden 
influences  which  may,  and  probably  do,  affect  the 
human  soul.  He  gave  a  short  but  learned  account  of 
the  history  of  demonology  throughout  the  ages,  which 
evidently  he  had  at  his  fingers'  ends.  He  distinguished 
between  good  and  evil  spirits,  and  while  not  denying 
the  lawfulness  of  such  research,  pointed  out  the  peril 
that  the  seeker  ran,  since  in  his  quest  for  the  good  he 


THE  PASTEUR  TAKES  THE  FIELD      151 

might  find  the  evil.  Finally,  he  demonstrated  that 
there  was  a  sure  refuge  from  all  such  demoniacal  at- 
tacks, which  those  who  suffered  from  them  had  but  to 
seek. 

Madame  dozed  during  this  sermon.  Juliette  won- 
dered what  had  sent  her  father  down  that  road,  and 
the  little  congregation,  those  of  them  who  understood, 
thought  it  a  pleasant  change  from  his  usual  discourses 
upon  their  sins,  since  they  at  least  had  never  practised 
demonology.  But  to  Godfrey,  to  whom,  indeed,  it  was 
addressed,  it  brought  much  comfort,  for  in  the  Pasteur 
and  his  pure  and  beautiful  doctrine,  he  saw  a  rock  on 
which  he  might  stand  secure,  defying  Madame  Riennes 
and  Eleanor,  and  all  the  hosts  of  hell  behind  them. 

Then  came  dinner.  It  was  towards  the  middle  of 
this  meal  that  Godfrey  began  to  feel  very  ill  at  ease. 
He  fidgeted,  he  looked  towards  the  door,  he  half  rose 
and  sat  down  again. 

"Do  you  perchance  wish  to  go  out?"  asked  the 
Pasteur,  who  was  keeping  him  under  constant  observa- 
tion. 

"What  of  it  if  he  does?"  interrupted  Madame. 
"  Did  not  Monsieur  Godfrey  inform  us  that  he  was 
unwell  ?  Go  then,  Monsieur  Godfrey." 

"  No,  not  so,"  said  the  Pasteur.  "  Remain  seated. 
In  one  minute  I  will  be  ready  to  accompany  you." 

"  Mon  Dieu!  what  for?"  exclaimed  Madame. 
"  Never  did  I  hear  of  such  a  thing,"  while  even  Juli- 
ette looked  amazed. 

Meanwhile  Godfrey  had  risen  and  was  making  for 
the  door,  with  a  fixed  and  sickly  smile  upon  his  face. 
The  Pasteur  swallowed  down  his  inn  ordinaire  and 
rushed  after  him. 


152  LOVE  ETERNAL 

"  He  is  ill,"  said  Juliette,  with  sympathy,  "  all  day 
he  has  looked  strange." 

"  Perhaps,"  said  Madame.  "  That  sermon  of  your 
father's  was  enough  to  turn  anybody's  stomach,  with 
his  talk  about  devils  and  witches.  But  why  cannot 
he  leave  him  alone  ?  A  doctor  in  such  a  case  perhaps, 

but  a  clergyman !  Mon  Dieu!  there  they  go,  the 

two  of  them  walking  towards  the  woods.  What  a 
strange  idea !  And  your  father  has  Monsieur  Godfrey 
by  the  arm,  although  assuredly  he  is  not  faint  for  he 
pulls  ahead  as  though  in  a  great  hurry.  They  must 
be  mad,  both  of  them.  I  have  half  a  mind " 

"  No,  no,  Mother,"  said  Juliette.  "  Leave  them 
alone.  Doubtless  in  time  they  will  return.  Perhaps  it 
has  something  to  do  with  the  stars." 

"  Silly  girl !    Stars  at  midday !  " 

"Well,  Mamma,  you  know  they  are  always  there 
even  if  one  cannot  see  them." 

"  Nonsense,  child.  They  only  come  at  night.  The 
question  is — where  are  those  two  going?  " 

Juliette  shook  her  head  and  gave  it  up,  and  so  per- 
force did  her  mother. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE   PASTEUR    CONQUERS 

MEANWHILE,  following  a  short  cut  through  the  snowy 
woods  that  ran  over  the  shoulder  of  the  intervening 
hill,  the  pair  were  wending  their  way  towards  Lucerne. 
Godfrey,  a  fixed  and  vacant  look  upon  his  face,  went 
first ;  the  Pasteur  clinging  to  his  arm  like  a  limpet  to  a 
rock,  puffed  along  beside  him. 

"  Heaven ! "  he  gasped,  "  but  this  attraction  of 
yours  must  be  strong  that  it  makes  you  walk  so  fast 
immediately  after  dinner." 

"  It  is,  it  is !  "  said  Godfrey,  in  a  kind  of  agony. 
"  I  feel  as  though  my  inside  were  being  drawn  out,  and 
I  must  follow  it.  Please  hold  my  arm  tight  or  I  shall 
run." 

"Ah!  the  witch.  The  great  witch!"  puffed  the 
Pasteur,  "  and  up  this  hill  too,  over  snow.  Well,  it 
will  be  better  on  the  down  grade.  Give  me  your  hand, 
my  boy,  for  your  coat  is  slipping,  and  if  once  you  got 
away  how  should  I  catch  you  ?  " 

They  accomplished  the  walk  into  Lucerne  in  abso- 
lutely record  time.  Fortunately,  at  this  after-dinner 
hour  few  people  were  about,  but  some  of  those  whom 
they  met  stared  at  them,  and  one  called : 

"Do  you  take  him  to  the  police-station?  Shall  I 
summon  the  gens-d'arme? ' 

"No,  no,"  replied  the  Pasteur,  "  he  goes  to  keep  an 
assignation,  and  is  in  a  hurry." 

153 


154  LOVE  ETERNAL 

"  Then  why  does  he  take  you  with  him  ?  Surely  a 
clergyman  will  make  a  bad  third  at  such  an  affair  ?  " 
ejaculated  an  outspoken  lady  who  was  standing  at  her 
house  door. 

"  Where  is  the  street?  I  do  not  know  it,"  asked  the 
/Pasteur. 

"  Nor  do  I,"  answered  Godfrey,  "  but  we  shall  come 
there  all  right.  To  the  left  now." 

"  Oh !  the  influence !  The  strong  influence !  " 
muttered  Monsieur  Boiset.  "  Behold !  it  leads 
him." 

Truly  it  did  lead  him.  Round  corners  and  across 
squares  they  went  into  an  old  part  of  the  town  with 
which  neither  of  them  was  acquainted,  till  at  length 
Godfrey,  diving  beneath  an  archway,  pulled  up  in  front 
of  an  antique  doorway,  saying: 

"  I  think  this  is  the  place." 

"  Look  at  the  writing  and  make  sure,"  said  the 
Pasteur,  "  for  it  seems  ridiculous " 

At  that  moment  the  door  opened  mysteriously,  and 
Godfrey  disappeared  into  the  passage  beyond. 
Scarcely  had  the  Pasteur  time  to  follow  him  when  it 
shut  again,  although  he  could  see  no  concierge. 

"  Doubtless  it  is  one  of  those  that  works  with  a 
wire,"  he  thought  to  himself,  but  he  had  no  time  to 
stop  to  look,  for  already  Godfrey  was  climbing  the 
stairs.  Up  he  went,  three  floors,  and  up  after  him 
scrambled  the  Pasteur.  Suddenly  Godfrey  stopped  at 
a  door  and  not  waiting  to  ring  the  bell,  knocked  with 
his  hand.  Immediately  it  opened  and  Godfrey,  with 
his  companion,  passed  into  a  very  dark  hall  round 
which  were  several  other  doors.  Here  in  the  gloom 
the  Pasteur  lost  him.  Godfrey  had  gone  through  one 


THE  PASTEUR  CONQUERS  155 

of  the  doors,  but  which  he  could  not  see.  He  stood 
still,  listening,  and  presently  heard  a  deep  peculiar^ 
voice  speaking  English  with  a  very  foreign  accent, 
say: 

"  So  you  have  come  to  see  your  godmamma,  my  dear 
little  clever  boy.  Well,  I  thought  you  would,  and  last 
night  I  sent  you  a  pretty  messenger  to  give  you 
remembrance." 

Then  the  Pasteur  found  the  handle  of  the  door  and 
entered  the  room.  It  was  a  curious  place  draped,  not 
without  taste  of  a  bizarre  kind,  in  vivid  colours, 
wherein  purple  dominated,  and  it  gave  an  idea  of 
mingled  magnificence  and  squalor.  Some  of  the  fur- 
niture was  very  good,  as  were  one  or  two  of  the 
pictures,  though  all  of  it  was  of  an  odd  and  unusual 
make.  Thus,  the  sideboard  was  shaped  like  a  sarcopha- 
gus, and  supported  on  solid  sphinxes  with  gilded  faces. 
In  a  corner  of  the  room  also  stood  an  unwrapped 
mummy  in  a  glass  case. 

In  the  midst  of  all  this  stood  a  common  deal  table, 
whereon  were  a  black  bottle,  and  the  remains  of 
Madame's  meal,  which  seemed  to  have  consisted  of 
large  supplies  of  underdone  meat.  In  front  of  the  fire 
was  a  large,  well-worn  couch,  and  by  it  a  small  stout 
table  such  as  spiritualists  use,  on  which  gleamed  a  ball 
of  glass  or  crystal.  On  this  couch  was  seated  Madame 
clad  in  a  kind  of  black  dressing-gown  and  a  wide  gold 
scarf  tied  about  her  ample  waist.  Her  fat,  massive 
face  was  painted  and  powdered ;  on  her  head  she  wore 
a  kind  of  mantilla  also  gold-coloured,  and  about  her 
neck  a  string  of  old  Egyptian  amulets.  Anything 
more  unwholesome  or  uncanny  than  were  her  general 
appearance  and  surroundings  as  the  bright  flames  of 


156  LOVE  ETERNAL 

the  fire  showed  them  in  this  stuffy,  shadowed  room, 
it  would  be  impossible  to  imagine. 

"  Sit  down  here  by  my  side,  my  little  son  in  the 
speerit,  where  I  have  made  a  place  ready  for  you,  and 
let  me  hold  your  hand  while  you  tell  me  all  that  you 
have  been  doing  and  if  you  have  been  thinking  much 
of  me  and  that  beautiful  Eleanor  whom  I  sent  to  see 
you  last  night,"  went  on  Madame  Riennes  in  her 
ogreish,  purring  voice,  patting  the  sofa. 

Just  then  she  looked  up  and  caught  sight  of  the 
Pasteur  standing  in  the  shadow.  Staring  at  him  with 
her  fierce,  prominent  eyes,  she  started  violently  as 
though  at  last  she  had  seen  something  of  which  she 
was  afraid. 

"  Say,  my  Godfrey,"  she  exclaimed  in  a  rather 
doubtful  voice,  "  what  is  this  that  you  have  brought 
with  you  ?  Is  it  a  scarecrow  from  the  fields  ?  Or  is  it 
a  speerit  of  your  own?  If  so,  I  should  have  thought 
that  a  young  man  would  have  liked  better  the  lovely 
Eleanor  than  this  old  devil." 

"  Yes,  Madame  Jezebel,"  said  the  Pasteur  striding 
forward,  speaking  in  a  loud,  high  voice  and  waving  a 
large  umbrella,  which  had  come  partly  unfolded  in  his 
hurried  walk.  "  It  is  a  scarecrow — one  that  scares  the 
crows  of  hell  who  seek  to  pick  out  the  souls  of  the 
innocent,  like  you,  Madame  Jezebel." 

Madame  uttered  a  voluminous  oath  in  some  strange 
tongue,  and  sprang  to  her  feet  with  an  agility  sur- 
prising in  one  so  stout. 

"Say,  who  are  you?"  she  ejaculated  in  French, 
confronting  him. 

"  I  am  the  Pasteur  Boiset  who  accompany  my  ward 
to  pay  this  little  call,  Madame." 


THE  PASTEUR  CONQUERS  157 

"  Oh !  indeed.  That  thief  of  a  clergyman,  who  got 
his  finger  into  the  pie  of  dead  Mademoiselle,  eh? 
Well,  there  are  no  more  pickings  here,  Pasteur,  but 
perhaps  you  come  to  have  your  fortune  told.  Shall 
I  look  in  the  crystal  for  you  and  tell  you  nice  things 
about — what  shall  we  say?  About  the  past  of  that 
handsome  Madame  of  yours,  for  instance?  Oh!  I  will 
do  it  for  love,  yes,  for  love.  Or  shall  I  make  that 
mummy  speak  for  you?  I  can,  for  once  I  lived  in 
that  body  of  hers — it  was  a  gay  life,"  and  she  stopped, 
gasping. 

"  Hearken,  woman,"  said  the  Pasteur,  "  and  do  not 
think  to  frighten  me.  I  know  all  about  my  wife,  and, 
if  once  she  was  foolish,  what  of  it  in  a  world  where 
none  are  altogether  wise?  If  you  do  not  wish  to  visit 
the  police  cell,  you  will  do  well  to  leave  her  alone. 
As  for  your  tricks  of  chicanery,  I  want  none  of  them. 
What  I  want  is  that  you  take  off  the  spell  which  you 
have  laid  upon  this  poor  boy,  as  Satan  your  master 
has  given  you  the  power  to  do.  Now,  obey  me — 
or " 

"  Or  ?    Or  what,  you  old  paid  advocate  of  God  ?  " 

"  That  is  a  good  term.  If  I  am  an  advocate,  I 
know  my  Employer's  mind,  I,  who  have  taken  His 
fee,  and  am  therefore  in  honour  bound  to  serve  Him 
faithfully.  Now  I  will  tell  you  His  mind  about  you. 
It  is  that  unless  you  change  your  ways  and  repent, 
soon  you  will  go  to  hell.  Yes,  quite  soon,  I  think, 
for  one  so  fat  cannot  be  very  strong  in  the  heart. 
Do  what  I  bid  you,  Madame,  or  I,  the  advocate  of 
God,  having  His  authority,  will  curse  you  in  the 
Name  of  God,  and  in  the  ancient  form  of  which  you 
may  have  heard." 


158  LOVE  ETERNAL 

"  Bah !  would  you  frighten  me,  the  great  Madame 
Riennes  who  have  spirits  at  my  command  and  who,  as 
you  admit,  can  lay  on  spells  and  take  them  off.  A  flea 
for  you  and  your  God !  " 

"  Spirits  at  your  command !  Yes,  some  of  them  in 
there,  I  think,"  and  he  pointed  to  the  black  bottle  on 
the  table,  "  and  others  too,  perhaps ;  I  will  not  deny 
it.  Well,  let  them  advance,  and  we  will  see  who  is 
on  the  top  of  the  mountain,  I,  the  old  paid  advocate  of 
God,  or  you  and  your  spirits,  Madame,"  and  hooking 
the  handle  of  the  big  umbrella  over  his  wrist,  he  folded 
his  arms  and  stared  at  her  through  the  blue  spectacles. 

Madame  Riennes  gibbered  some  invocation,  but 
nothing  happened. 

"  I  await  your  spirits.  They  cannot  have  gone  to 
bed  so  early,"  remarked  the  Pasteur  like  a  new  Elijah. 

Then,  also  like  Elijah,  to  use  a  vulgarism,  he  "  sailed 
in  "  after  a  way  which  even  the  terrified  Godfrey,  who 
was  crouching  against  one  of  the  purple  curtains,  felt 
to  be  really  magnificent  with  such  artistic  sense  as  re- 
mained to  him.  In  his  mediaeval  Latin  which,  spoken 
with  a  foreign  accent,  Godfrey,  although  a  good 
scholar,  could  scarcely  follow  save  for  certain  holy 
names,  he  cursed  Madame  Riennes  in  some  archaic 
but  most  effective  fashion.  He  consigned,  this  much 
Godfrey  made  out,  her  soul  to  hell  and  her  body  to  a 
number  of  the  most  uncomfortable  experiences.  He 
trailed  her  in  the  dust  at  the  rear  of  his  theological 
chariot;  he  descended  from  the  chariot,  so  to  speak, 
and  jumped  upon  her  as  he  had  done  upon  the  beetle ; 
he  tossed  up  her  mangled  remains  as  the  holy  bull, 
Apis  of  the  Egyptians,  might  have  done  with  those  of 
a  Greek  blasphemer.  Then,  like  a  triumphant  pugilist, 


THE  PASTEUR  CONQUERS  159' 

metaphorically  he  stood  over  her  and  asked  her  if  she 
wanted  any  more. 

For  a  little  while  Madame  Riennes  was  crushed,  also 
very  evidently  frightened,  for  those  who  deal  in  the 
supernatural  are  afraid  of  the  supernatural.  Indeed, 
none  of  us  welcome  the  curse  even  of  a  malignant  and 
disappointed  beggar,  or  of  the  venomous  gipsy  angered 
by  this  or  that,  and  much  less  that  of  a  righteous  man 
inspired  by  just  and  holy  indignation.  Madame 
Riennes,  an  expert  in  the  trade,  a  dealer  in  maledic- 
tions, was  not  exempt  from  this  common  prejudice. 
As  she  would  have  expressed  it,  she  felt  that  he  had 
the  Power  on  his  side. 

But  Madame  was  no  common  charlatan;  she  had 
strength  of  a  sort,  though  where  it  came  from  who 
could  say?  Moreover,  for  all  kinds  of  secret  reasons 
of  her  own,  she  desired  to  keep  in  her  grip  this  boy 
Godfrey,  who  had  shown  himself  to  be  so  wonderful 
a  medium  or  clairvoyant.  To  her  he  meant  strength 
and  fortune;  also  for  him  she  had  conceived  some 
kind  of  unholy  liking  in  the  recesses  of  her  dark  soul. 
Therefore,  she  was  not  prepared  to  give  him  up  with- 
out a  struggle. 

Presently  Madame  seemed  to  cast  off  the  influences 
with  which  the  Pasteur  had  overwhelmed  her.  While 
his  maledictions  were  in  full  flow  she  sank  in  a  huddled 
heap  upon  the  couch.  Of  a  sudden  she  revived;  she 
^prang  up ;  notwithstanding  her  bulk  she  leapt  into  the 
iair  like  a  ballet-dancer.  She  tore  the  golden  mantilla 
from  her  head,  letting  down  a  flood  of  raven  hair, 
streaked  with  grey,  and  waved  it  round  her.  She 
called  upon  the  names  of  spirits  or  demons,  long,  re- 
sounding names  with  an  Eastern  ring  about  them,  to 


,160  LOVE  ETERNAL 

come  to  her  aid.  Then  she  pranced  into  the  centre  of 
the  room,  crying: 

"  Dog  of  a  clergyman,  I  defy  you  and  will  overcome 
you.  That  boy's  soul  is  mine,  not  yours.  I  am  the 
greatest  mesmerist  in  the  world  and  he  is  in  my  net.  I 
will  show  you !  " 

She  turned  towards  the  shrivelled,  almost  naked 
mummy  in  the  case,  and  addressed  it : 

"  O  Nofri,"  she  said,  "  Priestess  of  Set,  great  seeress 
and  magician  of  the  old  world  in  whom  once  my  spirit 
dwelt,  send  forth  your  Ka,  your  everlasting  Emana- 
tion, to  help  me.  Crush  this  black  hound.  Come 
forth,  come  forth !  " 

As  she  spoke  the  fearful  Godfrey  in  his  corner  saw 
the  door  of  the  glass  case  fly  open,  also  as  he  thought, 
probably  erroneously,  that  he  saw  the  mummy  move, 
lifting  its  stiff  legs  and  champing  its  iron  jaws  so  that 
the  yellow,  ancient  teeth  caught  the  light  as  they 
moved.  Then  he  heard  and  saw  something  else.  Sud- 
denly the  Pasteur  in  tones  that  rang  like  a  trumpet, 
cried  out : 

"  She  seems  to  hesitate,  this  mummy  of  yours, 
Madame.  Let  me  be  polite  and  help  her." 

With  a  single  bound  he  was  in  front  of  the  case. 
With  the  hook  of  his  big  umbrella  he  caught  the 
shrivelled  thing  round  the  neck;  with  his  long  thin 
arm  he  gripped  it  about  the  middle,  just  like  some- 
body leading  a  lady  to  the  dance,  thought  Godfrey. 
Then  he  bent  himself  and  pulled.  Out  flew  the  age- 
withered  corpse.  The  head  came  off,  the  body  broke 
above  the  hips  and  fell  upon  the  floor,  leaving  the 
legs  standing  in  the  case,  a  ghastly  spectacle.  On  to 
this  severed  trunk  the  Pasteur  leapt,  again  as  he  had 


THE  PASTEUR  CONQUERS  161 

done  upon  the  black  beetle.  It  crunched  and  crumbled, 
filling  the  air  with  a  pungent,  resinous  dust.  Then  he 
stood  amidst  the  debris,  and  placing  his  right  foot 
upon  what  had  been  the  mummy's  nose,  said  mildly: 

"  Now,  Madame,  what  next  ?  This  lady  is  finished  ?  " 

Madame  Riennes  uttered  a  stifled  scream,  more  she 
could  not  do  for  rage  choked  her.  Her  big  eyes  rolled, 
she  clenched  and  unclenched  her  hands,  and  bent 
forward  as  though  she  were  about  to  fly  at  the  Pasteur 
like  a  wild  cat.  Still  poised  upon  the  fragments  of  the 
mummy  he  lifted  the  point  of  the  umbrella  to  receive 
the  charge  as  it  came,  and  taking  advantage  of 
Madame's  temporary  paralysis  of  speech,  went  on : 

"Hearken!  daughter  of  Beelzebub.  You  have  the 
curse  and  it  shall  work  upon  your  soul,  but,  yes,  it 
shall  work  well.  Still  your  body  remains,  and  of  that 
too  I  would  say  something.  Know  that  I  have  heard 
much  of  you — oh!  the  quiet  old  Pasteur  hears  many 
things,  especially  if  he  has  members  of  the  secret 
police  among  his  flock.  I  think  that  yonder  in  an 
office  there  is  a  dossier,  yes,  an  official  record  concern- 
ing you  and  your  doings  both  in  this  country  and  in 
other  lands.  It  has  been  allowed  to  sleep,  but  it  can 
wake  again;  if  it  wakes — well,  there  is  the  peniten- 
tiary for  such  as  you." 

Madame  gasped  and  turned  green.  If  Monsieur 
Boiset  had  drawn  a  bow  at  a  venture,  evidently  that 
chance  arrow  had  found  the  bull's-eye,  for  now  she 
truly  was  frightened. 

"What  would  you  have  me  do?"  she  asked  in  a 
choking  voice. 

"  Free  this  youth  from  your  influence,  as  you  can  if 
you  will." 


162  LOVE  ETERNAL 

"  My  influence!  If  I  had  any  with  him  would  not 
that  bald  skull  of  yours  by  now  have  been  shattered  like 
an  egg,  seeing  that  he  is  strong  and  holds  a  stick?  " 

"  I  have  no  time  to  waste,  Madame.  The  Police 
Office  closes  early  on  Sundays." 

Then  she  gave  in. 

"  Come  here,"  she  said  sullenly  to  Godfrey,  still 
speaking  in  French. 

He  came  and  stood  before  her  sneezing,  for  the 
pungent  dust  of  the  smashed  mummy,  which  the  Pas- 
teur still  ground  beneath  his  large  boots,  had  floated 
up  his  nose. 

"  Cease  that  noise,  little  fool,  and  look  at  me." 

Godfrey  obeyed,  but  did  not  stop  sneezing,  because 
the  mixture  of  spices  and  organic  matter  would  not  al- 
low him  to  do  so.  She  stared  at  him  very  evilly,  mut- 
tered some  more  words,  and  made  mystic  upward 
passes  with  her  hands. 

"  There  now,"  she  said,  "  you  are  free,  so  far  as  I 
am  concerned.  But  I  do  not  think  that  you  are  done 
with  spirits,  since  they  are  guests  which  once  enter- 
tained to  breakfast,  stop  to  luncheon  and  to  dinner; 
yes,  and  pass  the  night  when  they  are  merriest.  I 
think  you  will  see  many  spirits  before  you  die,  and 
afterwards — ah!  who  knows,  little  pig?  Put  your 
string  about  his  leg  and  take  your  little  pig  home, 
Pasteur.  He  will  not  be  drawn  to  come  here  again." 

"  Good,  Madame,  for  remember,  if  he  does  I  shall 
be  drawn  to  call  at  the  Police  Office.  If  Madame  will 
take  my  advice  she  will  try  change  of  air.  Lucerne  is 
cold  in  the  winter,  especially  for  those  whose  hearts 
are  not  too  strong.  Is  it  finished?" 

"  Quite,  for  my  part,  but  for  you,  interfering  hum- 


THE  PASTEUR  CONQUERS  163- 

bug,  I  do  not  know.  Get  out  of  my  room,  both  of 
you." 

The  Pasteur  bowed  with  an  old-fashioned  polite- 
ness, and  herding  Godfrey  in  front  of  him,  turned 
to  go.  As  he  passed  through  the  door  something 
hard  hit  him  violently  in  the  back,  so  that  he  nearly 
fell.  It  was  the  head  of  the  mummy,  which  Madame 
had  hurled  at  him.  It  fell  to  the  floor,  and  striking 
against  a  chair  leg,  recoiled  through  the  doorway. 
Godfrey  saw  it,  and  an  impulse  seized  him.  Lifting 
that  head,  he  turned.  Madame  was  standing  in  the 
middle  of  the  room  with  her  back  to  the  deal  table, 
uttering  short  little  howls  of  fury. 

Godfrey  advanced  very  politely  and  saying,  "  I  be- 
lieve this  is  your  property,  Madame,"  placed  the  bat- 
tered remnant  of  humanity  upon  the  table  beside  the 
black  bottle.  As  he  did  so,  he  glanced  at  the  mes- 
merist, then  turned  and  fled,  for  her  face  was  like  to 
that  of  a  devil. 

"  Monsieur  Boiset,"  he  said,  when  they  reached  the 
street,  "  something  has  happened  to  me.  I  am  quite 
changed.  Not  for  all  the  world  would  I  go  near 
Madame  Riennes  again.  Indeed,  now  I  feel  as  though 
I  wished  to  run  away  from  her." 

"  That  is  good !  "  said  the  Pasteur.  "  Oh !  I  thought 
it  would  be  so,  for  I  know  how  to  deal  with  such 
witches.  But  not  too  fast,  not  too  fast,  my  Godfrey. 
I  wonder  what  the  old  Egyptians  put  into  the  heads 
of  their  mummies  to  make  them  so  heavy." 

"  Bitumen,"  answered  Godfrey,  and  proceeded  in 
a  cheerful  voice  to  give  an  account  of  the  Egyptian 
process  of  mummification  to  his  tutor,  which  Isobel 
and  he  had  acquired  in  the  course  of  their  miscel- 


164  LOVE  ETERNAL 

laneous  reading  at  Monk's  Acre.  Indeed,  as  he  had 
said,  whatever  the  reason,  he  was  changed  and  pre- 
pared to  talk  cheerfully  about  anything.  A  great 
burden  was  lifted  from  his  soul. 

From  that  day  forward  Godfrey  became  what  a 
youth  of  his  years  and  race  should  be,  a  high-spirited, 
athletic,  and  active  young  man.  Madame  Riennes  and 
her  visions  passed  from  him  like  a  bad  dream. 
Thoughtful  he  remained  always,  for  that  was  his 
nature ;  sometimes  sad  also,  when  he  thought  of  Isobel, 
who  seemed  to  have  disappeared  quite  out  of  his  life. 
But  as  was  natural  at  his  age,  this  mood  weakened  by 
degrees.  She  was  always  there  in  the  background, 
but  she  ceased  to  obscure  the  landscape  as  she  had  done 
before,  and  was  to  do  in  his  after  life.  Had  she  been 
a  girl  of  the  common  type,  attractive  only  because  she 
was  a  young  and  vivacious  v/oman,  doubtless  the 
eclipse  would  have  been  complete.  Occasionally,  in- 
deed, men  do  love  fools  in  an  enduring  fashion,  which 
is  perhaps  the  most  evil  fate  that  can  be  laid  upon 
them.  For  what  can  be  worse  than  to  waste  what 
is  deep  and  real  upon  a  thing  of  flesh  without  a  soul, 
an  empty,  painted  bubble,  which  evades  the  hand,  or 
bursts  if  it  is  grasped?  Those  are  the  real  unfortu- 
nates, who  have  sold  themselves  for  a  mess  of  potage, 
that  for  the  most  part  they  are  never  even  allowed  to 
eat,  since  before  the  bell  rings  it  has  probably  been 
deposited  by  heaven  knows  what  hand  of  Circum- 
stance in  someone  else's  plate,  or  gone  stale  and  been 
thrown  away. 

Godfrey  was  not  one  of  these,  because  the  hand  of 
Circumstance  had  managed  his  affairs  otherwise. 


THE  PASTEUR  CONQUERS 

Isobel  was  no  mess  of  potage,  but  with  all  her  faults 
and  failings,  a  fair  and  great  inheritance  for  him  who 
could  take  seisin  of  her.  Still,  as  he  believed,  she 
had  first  treated  him  badly,  then  utterly  neglected  him 
whose  pride  she  had  outraged,  by  not  even  taking  the 
trouble  to  write  him  a  letter,  and  finally,  had  vanished 
away.  And  he  was  young,  with  manhood  advancing 
in  his  veins,  like  the  pulse  of  spring,  and  women  are 
many  in  the  world,  some  of  whom  have  pretty  faces 
and  proper  figures.  Also,  although  the  fact  is  over- 
looked by  convention,  it  has  pleased  Nature  to  make 
man  polygamous  in  his  instincts,  though  where  those 
instincts  end  and  what  is  called  love  begins,  is  a  thing 
almost  impossible  to  define.  Probably  in  truth  the 
limit  lies  beyond  the  borders  of  sex. 

So  Isobel's  grey  eyes  faded  into  the  background 
of  Godfrey's  mental  vision,  while  the  violet  eyes  of 
Juliette  drew  ever  nearer  to  his  physical  perceptions. 
And  here,  to  save  trouble,  it  may  be  said  at  once,  that 
he  never  cared  in  the  least  for  Juliette,  except  as  a 
male  creature  cares  for  a  pretty  female  creature,  and 
that  Juliette  never  cared  in  the  least  for  him,  except 
as  a  young  woman  cares  in  general  for  a  handsome 
and  attractive  young  man — with  prospects.  Indeed, 
she  found  him  too  serious  for  her  taste.  She  did  not 
understand  him,  as,  for  his  part,  in  her  he  found 
nothing  to  understand. 

After  all,  ruling  out  the  primary  impulses  which 
would  make  a  scullery  maid  congenial  to  a  genius 
upon  a  desert  isle,  what  was  there  in  a  Juliette  to 
appeal  to  a  Godfrey?  And,  with  the  same  qualifica- 
tion, what  was  there  in  a  Godfrey  to  appeal  to  a 
Juliette?  As  once,  with  an  accidental  touch  of  poetry, 


i66  LOVE  ETERNAL 

she  said  to  her  mother,  when  at  his  side  she  felt  as 
though  she  were  walking  over  a  snow-covered  crevasse 
in  the  surrounding  Alps.  All  seemed  firm  beneath 
her  feet,  but  she  never  knew  when  the  crust  would 
break,  and  he  would  vanish  into  unfathomed  depths, 
perchance  dragging  her  with  him.  Or,  feeling  her 
danger  she  might  run  from  him  on  to  safer  ground, 
where  she  knew  herself  to  be  on  good,  common  rock 
or  soil,  and  no  strange,  hollow  echoes  struck  her  ears, 
leaving  him  to  pursue  his  perilous  journey  alone. 

Her  mother  laughed,  and  falling  into  her  humour, 
answered,  that  beyond  the  crevasse  and  at  the  foot  of 
the  further  slope  lay  the  warm  and  merry  human  town, 
the  best  house  of  which — not  unlike  the  Villa  Ogilvy — 
could  be  reached  in  no  other  way,  and  that  with  such 
a  home  waiting  to  receive  her,  it  was  worth  while  to 
take  a  little  risk.  Thereon  Juliette  shrugged  her  white 
shoulders,  and  in  the  intervals  of  one  of  the  French 
chansonettcs  which  she  was  very  fond  of  warbling  in 
her  gay  voice,  remarked  that  she  preferred  to  make 
journeys,  safe  or  perilous,  in  the  company  of  a  singing- 
bird  in  the  sunlight,  rather  than  in  that  of  an  owl  in 
the  dusk,  who  always  reminded  her  of  the  advancing 
darkness. 

At  least,  that  was  the  substance  of  what  she  said, 
although  she  did  not  put  it  quite  so  neatly.  Then, 
as  though  by  an  afterthought,  she  asked  when  her 
cousin  Jules,  a  young  notary  of  Berne,  was  coming 
to  stay  with  them. 

The  winter  wore  away,  the  spring  came,  and  after 
spring,  summer,  with  its  greenery  and  flowers.  God- 
frey was  happy  enough  during  this  time.  To  begin 
with,  the  place  suited  him.  He  was  very  well  now, 


THE  PASTEUR  CONQUERS  167 

and  grew  enormously  in  that  pure  and  trenchant  air, 
broadening  as  well  as  lengthening,  till,  notwithstand- 
ing his  slimness,  he  gave  promise  of  becoming  a  large, 
athletic  man. 

Madame  Riennes  too  and  her  unholy  terrors  had 
faded  into  the  background.  He  no  longer  thought  of 
spirits,  although,  it  is  true  that  a  sense  of  the  imma- 
nence and  reality  of  the  Unseen  was  always  with  him; 
indeed,  as  time  went  on,  it  increased  rather  than 
lessened.  Partly,  this  was  owing  to  the  character  and 
natural  tendencies  of  his  mind,  partly  also,  without 
doubt,  to  the  fact  that  his  recent  experiences  had,  as 
it  were,  opened  a  door  to  him  between  the  Seen  and 
the  Hidden,  or  rather  burst  a  breach  in  the  dividing 
wall  that  never  was  built  up  again.  Also  his  astro- 
nomical studies  certainly  gave  an  impetus  to  thoughts 
and  speculations  such  as  were  always  present  with 
him.  Only  now  these  were  of  a  wholesome  and  rev- 
erent nature,  tending  towards  those  ends  which  are 
advanced  by  religion  in  its  truest  sense. 

He  worked  hard,  too,  under  the  gentle  guidance  of 
the  learned  Pasteur,  at  the  classics,  literature,  and  other 
subjects,  while  in  French  he  could  not  fail  to  become 
proficient  in  the  company  of  the  talkative  Madame  and 
the  sprightly  Juliette.  Nor  did  he  want  for  relaxa- 
tion. There  were  great  woods  on  the  hills  behind  the 
Maison  Blanche,  and  in  these  he  obtained  leave  to 
shoot  rabbits,  and,  horrible  to  say,  foxes.  Juliette 
and  he  would  set  out  together  towards  evening,  ac- 
companied by  a  clever  cur  which  belonged  to  Jean, 
the  factotum  of  the  house. 

They  would  post  themselves  at  some  convenient 
spot,  while  the  instructed  hound  ranged  the  woods 


1 68  LOVE  ETERNAL 

above.  Then  would  appear  perhaps  a  rabbit,  perhaps 
a  hare,  though  these  in  that  land  of  poaching  were 
not  common,  or  occasionally  a  great,  red,  stealthy 
fox.  At  first,  with  his  English  traditions,  Godfrey 
shrank  from  shooting  the  last,  which  he  had  been 
taught  ought  to  die  in  one  way  only,  namely,  by  being 
torn  to  pieces  in  the  jaws  of  the  hounds. 

Juliette,  however,  mocked  at  him,  volubly  reciting 
Reynard's  many  misdeeds — how  he  stole  chickens; 
how  he  tore  out  the  throats  of  lambs,  and,  according 
to  local  report,  was  not  even  above  killing  a  baby  if 
he  found  that  innocent  alone.  So  it  came  about  next 
time  the  excited  yapping  of  the  cur-dog  was  heard  on 
the  slopes  above  them,  followed  by  stealthy  movements 
among  the  fallen  pine  needles,  and  at  length  by  the 
appearance  of  the  beautiful  red  creature  slyly  slinking 
away  to  shelter,  not  twenty  yards  from  where  they 
stood  behind  a  tree-trunk,  that  Juliette  whispered : 

"  Tires!  Tires! "  and  he  lifted  the  gun,  an  old- 
fashioned,  single-barrelled  piece,  aimed  and  fired. 

Then  followed  a  horrid  scene.  The  big  shot  with 
which  he  had  loaded,  mortally  wounded  but  did  not 
kill  the  fox,  that  with  its  forepaws  broken,  rolled,  and 
bit,  and  made  dreadful  noises  in  its  agony,  its  beauti- 
ful fur  all  stained  with  blood.  Godfrey  did  not  know 
what  to  do;  it  was  too  big  and  strong  to  kill  with 
Juliette's  little  stick,  so  he  tried  to  batter  it  to  death 
with  the  stock  of  the  gun,  but  without  success,  and 
at  last  withdrew,  looking  at  it  horrified. 

"  What  shall  I  do  ?  "  he  asked  faintly  of  Juliette. 

"  Load  the  gun  and  shoot  it  again,"  replied  that 
practical  young  woman. 

So  with  some  mistakes,   for  the  emergency  made 


THE  PASTEUR  CONQUERS  169 

him  nervous,  such  as  the  dropping  of  the  cap  among 
the  pine  needles,  he  obeyed.  At  last  the  poor  beast 
lay  dead,  a  very  disagreeable  spectacle,  with  the  cur- 
dog  that  had  arrived,  biting  joyously  at  its  quivering 
form. 

Godfrey  put  down  the  gun  and  retired  behind  a 
tree,  whence  presently  he  emerged,  looking  very  pale, 
for  to  tell  the  truth,  he  had  been  ill. 

"  I  do  not  think  I  like  shooting  foxes,"  he  said. 

"  How  strange  you  are,"  answered  Juliette.  "  Quite 
unlike  other  men.  Now  my  Cousin  Jules,  there  is 
nothing  that  he  loves  better.  Go  now  and  cut  off  his 
tail,  to  hang  upon  the  wall.  It  is  beautiful." 

"  I  can't,"  said  Godfrey  still  more  faintly. 

11  Then  give  me  the  knife,  for  I  can." 

And  she  did! 

Had  Madame  but  known  it,  that  fox  did  not  die 
unavenged  upon  her  family,  for  with  it  departed  from 
the  world  all  hopes  of  the  alliance  which  she  desired 
so  earnestly. 


CHAPTER  X 

GODFREY  BECOMES  A  HERO 

THE  truth  is  that  Godfrey  was  no  true  sportsman, 
really  he  did  not  enjoy  exterminating  other  and  kin- 
dred life  to  promote  his  own  amusement.  Like  most 
young  men,  he  was  delighted  if  he  made  a  good  shot; 
moreover,  he  had  some  aptitude  for  shooting,  but  un- 
like most  young  men,  to  him  afterwards  came  reflec- 
tions. Who  gave  him  the  right  to  kill  creatures  as 
sentient,  and  much  more  beautiful  in  their  way  than 
himself,  just  because  it  was  "  great  fun  "  ?  Of  course, 
he  was  familiar  with  the  common  answer,  that  day 
by  day  his  body  was  nourished  upon  the  flesh  of  other 
animals  destroyed  for  that  purpose.  But  then  this 
was  a  matter  of  necessity,  so  arranged  by  a  law,  that 
personally,  he  thought  dreadful,  but  over  which  he 
had  no  manner  of  control.  It  was  part  of  the  hellish 
system  of  a  world  built  upon  the  foundation  stone 
of  death. 

Nature  told  him  that  he  must  live,  and  that  to  live, 
not  being  a  vegetarian,  which  for  most  of  us  is  difficult 
in  a  cold  climate,  he  must  kill,  or  allow  others  to  kill 
for  him.  But  to  his  fancy,  perhaps  meticulous,  be- 
tween such  needful  slaughter  and  that  carried  out  for 
his  own  amusement,  and  not  really  for  the  purposes 
of  obtaining  food,  there  seemed  to  be  a  great  gulf 
fixed.  To  get  food  he  would  have  killed  anything, 
and  indeed,  often  did  in  after  days,  as  he  would,  and 

170 


GODFREY  BECOMES  A  HERO         171 

also  often  did  in  after  days,  have  destroyed  noxious 
animals,  such  as  tigers. 

But  to  inflict  death  merely  to  show  his  own  skill 
or  to  gratify  man's  innate  passion  for  hunting,  which 
descends  to  him  from  a  more  primitive  period,  well, 
that  was  another  matter.  It  is  true,  that  he  was  not 
logical,  since  always  he  remained  an  ardent  fisherman, 
partly  because  he  had  convinced  himself  from  various 
observations,  that  fish  feel  very  little,  and  partly  for 
the  reason  that  there  is  high  authority  for  fishing, 
although,  be  it  admitted,  with  a  single  exception,  al- 
ways in  connection  with  the  obtaining  of  needful  food. 

In  these  conclusions  Godfrey  was  strengthened  by 
two-  circumstances;  first,  his  reading,  especially  of 
Buddhistic  literature,  that  enjoins  them  so  strongly, 
and  in  which  he  found  a  great  deal  to  admire,  and 
secondly,  by  the  entire  concurrence  of  the  Pasteur 
Boiset,  whom  he  admired  even  more  than  he  did 
Buddhistic  literature. 

"  I  am  delighted,  my  young  friend,"  said  the 
Pasteur,  beaming  at  him  through  the  blue  spectacles, 
"  to  find  someone  who  agrees  with  me.  Personally, 
although  you  might  not  believe  it,  I  love  the  chase 
with  ardour;  when  I  was  young  I  have  shot  as  many 
as  twenty-five — no — twenty-seven  blackbirds  and 
thrushes  in  one  day,  to  say  nothing  of  thirty-one 
larks,  and  some  other  small  game.  Also,  once  I 
wounded  a  chamois,  which  a  bold  hunter  with  me 
killed.  It  was  a  glorious  moment.  But  now,  for 
the  reasons  that  you  mention,  I  have  given  up  all  this 
sport,  which  formerly  to  me  was  so  great  an  excite- 
ment and  relaxation.  Yet  I  admit  that  I  still  fish. 
Only  last  year  I  caught  a  large  hatful  of  perch  and 


172  LOVE  ETERNAL 

dace,  of  which  I  persuaded  Madame  to  cook  some 
that  Juliette  would  not  eat  and  gave  to  the  cat.  Once, 
too,  there  was  a  big  trout  in  the  Lake  Lucerne.  He 
broke  my  line,  but,  my  boy,  we  will  go  to  fish  for  that 
trout.  No  doubt  he  is  still  there,  for  though  I  was 
then  young,  these  fishy  creatures  live  for  many  years, 
and  to  catch  him  would  be  a  glory." 

After  Godfrey  had  given  up  his  fox-shooting,  not 
because  in  itself  it  is  a  terrible  crime,  like  fishing  for 
salmon  with  herring  roe,  but  for  reasons  which  most 
of  his  countrymen  would  consider  effeminate  and 
absurd,  he  took  to  making  expeditions,  still  in  company 
with  Juliette,  for  Madame  stretched  Continental  con- 
ventions in  his  case,  in  search  of  certain  rare  flowers 
which  grew  upon  the  lower  slopes  of  these  Alps.  In 
connection  with  one  of  these  flowers  an  incident  oc- 
curred, rather  absurd  in  itself,  but  which  was  not 
without  effect  upon  his  fortunes. 

The  search  for  a  certain  floral  treasure  was  long 
and  arduous. 

"  If  only  I  could  find  that  lovely  white  bloom," 
exclaimed  Juliette  in  exasperation  at  the  close  of  a 
weary  hour  of  climbing,  "  why,  I  would  kiss  it." 

"  So  would  I,"  said  Godfrey,  mopping  himself  with 
a  pocket  handkerchief,  for  the  sun  was  hot,  "  and 
with  pleasure." 

"  Hidden  flower,"  invoked  Juliette  with  appropriate 
heroic  gestures,  "  white,  secret,  maiden  flower,  hear 
us!  Discover  thyself,  O  shrinking  flower,  and  thou 
shalt  be  kissed  by  the  one  that  first  finds  thee." 

"  I  don't  know  that  the  flower  would  care  for  that," 
remarked  Godfrey,  as  they  renewed  their  quest. 

At  length  behind  a  jutting  mass  of  rock,  in  a  minia- 


GODFREY  BECOMES  A  HERO         173 

ture  valley,  not  more  than  a  few  yards  wide  that  was 
backed  by  other  rocks,  this  flower  was  found.  God- 
frey and  Juliette,  passing  round  either  side  of  the 
black,  projecting  mass  to  the  opening  of  the  toy  vale 
beyond,  discovered  it  simultaneously.  There  it  stood, 
one  lovely,  lily-like  bloom  growing  alone,  virginal, 
perfect.  With  a  cry  of  delight  they  sprang  at  it,  and 
plucked  it  from  its  root,  both  of  them  grasping  the 
tall  stem. 

"  I  saw  it  first,  and  I  will  kiss  it !  "  cried  Juliette, 
"  in  token  of  possession." 

"  No,"  said  Godfrey,  "  I  did,  and  I  will.  I  want 
that  flower  for  my  collection." 

"  So  do  I,  for  mine,"  answered  Juliette. 

Then  they  both  tried  to  set  this  seal  of  possession 
upon  that  lily  bloom,  with  the  strange  result  that  their 
young  lips  met  through  its  fragile  substance  and  with 
so  much  energy  that  it  was  crushed  and  ruined. 

"  Oh!  "  said  Godfrey  with  a  start,  "  look  what  you 
have  done  to  the  flower." 

"  I !  I,  wicked  one !  Well,  for  the  matter  of  that, 
look  what  you  have  done  to  my  lips.  They  feel  quite 
bruised." 

Then  first  she  laughed,  and  next  looked  as  though 
she  were  going  to  cry. 

"  Don't  be  sad,"  said  Godfrey  remorsefully.  "  No 
doubt  we  shall  find  another,  now  that  we  know  where 
they  are." 

"  Perhaps,"  she  answered,  "  but  it  is  always  the 
first  that  one  remembers,  and  it  is  finished,"  and  she 
threw  down  the  stalk  and  stamped  on  it. 

Just  then  they  heard  a  sound  of  laughter,  and  look- 
ing up,  to  their  horror  perceived  that  they  were  not 


174  LOVE  ETERNAL 

alone.  For  there,  seated  upon  stones  at  the  end  of 
the  tiny  valley,  in  composed  and  comfortable  attitudes, 
which  suggested  that  they  had  not  arrived  that  mo- 
ment, were  two  gentlemen,  who  appeared  to  be  highly 
amused. 

Godfrey  knew  them  at  once,  although  he  had  not 
seen  them  since  the  previous  autumn.  They  were 
Brother  Josiah  Smith,  the  spiritualist,  and  Professor 
Petersen,  the  investigating  Dane,  whom  he  used  to 
meet  at  the  seances  in  the  Villa  Ogilvy. 

"  I  guess,  young  Brother  Knight,"  said  the  former, 
his  eyes  sparkling  with  sarcastic  merriment,  "  that 
there  is  no  paint  on  you.  When  you  find  a  flower, 
you  know  how  to  turn  it  to  the  best  possible  use." 

"  The  substance  of  flowers  is  fragile,  especially  if 
of  the  lily  tribe,  and  impedes  nothing,"  remarked  the 
learned  Dane  in  considered  tones,  though  what  he 
meant  Godfrey  did  not  understand  at  the  moment. 
On  consideration  he  understood  well  enough. 

"  Our  mutual  friend,  Madame  Riennes,  who  is  ab- 
sent in  Italy,  will  be  greatly  amused  when  she  hears 
of  this  episode,"  said  Brother  Smith.  "  She  is  indeed 
a  remarkable  woman,  for  only  this  morning  I  received 
a  letter  in  which  she  informed  me  that  very  soon  I 
should  meet  you,  young  man,  under  peculiar  circum- 
stances, how  peculiar  she  did  not  add.  Well,  I  con- 
gratulate you  and  the  young  lady.  I  assure  you, 
you  made  quite  a  pretty  picture  with  nothing  but  that 
flower  between  you,  though,  I  admit,  it  was  rough 
on  the  flower.  If  I  remember  right  you  are  fond  of 
the  classics,  as  I  am,  and  will  recall  to  mind  a  Greek 
poet  named  Theocritus.  I  think,  had  he  been  wander- 
ing here  in  the  Alps  to-day,  he  would  have  liked  to 


-  GODFREY  BECOMES  A  HERO ,        175 

write  one  of  his  idylls  about  you  two  and  that  flower." 

"  Because  of  the  interruption  give  pardon,  for  it  is 
owed  an  apology,"  said  the  solemn  Professor,  adding, 
"  I  think  it  must  have  been  the  emanation  of  Madame 
Riennes  herself  which  led  us  to  this  place,  where  we 
did  not  at  all  mean  to  come,  for  she  is  very  anxious 
to  know  how  you  progress  and  what  you  are  doing." 

"  Yes,  young  friend,"  broke  in  Brother  Smith,  not 
without  a  touch  of  malice,  for  like  the  rest  he  was 
resentful  of  Godfrey's  desertion  of  their  "  circle," 
"  and  now  we  shall  be  able  to  tell  her." 

"  Say  then,"  said  Juliette,  "  who  are  these  gentle- 
men, and  of  what  do  they  talk  ?  " 

"  They — are — friends  of  mine,"  Godfrey  began  to 
explain  with  awkward  hesitation,  but  she  cut  him 
short  with: 

"  I  like  not  your  friends.  They  make  a  mock  of 
me,  and  I  will  never  forgive  you." 

"  But  Juliette,  I—  "  he  began,  and  got  no  further, 
for  she  turned  and  ran  away.  Anxious  to  explain, 
he  ran  after  her,  pursued  by  the  loud  hilarity  of  the 
intruding  pair.  In  vain,  for  Juliette  was  singularly 
swift  of  foot,  and  he  might  as  well  have  pursued 
Atalanta. 

She  reached  the  Maison  Blanche,  which  fortunately 
was  empty,  a  clear  ten  yards  ahead  of  him,  and  shut 
herself  in  her  room,  whence,  declaring  that  she  had 
a  headache,  she  did  not  emerge  till  the  following 
morning. 

Godfrey  departed  to  the  observatory  where  he  often 
worked  in  summer,  feeling  very  sore  and  full  of  re- 
flections. He  had  not  really  meant  to  kiss  Juliette, 
at  least  he  thought  not,  and  it  was  unthinkable  that 


176  LOVE  ETERNAL 

she  meant  to  kiss  him,  since,  so  far  as  he  was  aware, 
no  young  woman  ever  wanted  to  do  such  a  thing, 
being,  every  one  of  them,  doubtless,  as  unapproach- 
able and  frigid  as  the  topmost,  snowy  peak  of  the 
Alps.  (Such  was,  and  always  remained  his  attitude, 
where  the  other  sex  was  concerned,  one  not  without 
inconveniences  in  a  practical  world  of  disillusions.) 
No,  it  was  that  confounded  flower  which  brought 
about  this  pure  accident — as  though  Nature,  which 
designs  such  accidents,  had  not  always  a  flower,  or 
something  equally  serviceable,  up  her  sleeve. 

Moreover,  had  it  not  been  for  that  accursed  pair, 
sent,  doubtless,  to  spy  on  him  by  Madame  Riennes, 
the  accident  would  never  have  mattered;  at  least  not 
much.  He  could  have  apologized  suitably  to  Juliette, 
that  is,  if  she  wanted  an  apology,  which  she  showed 
no  signs  of  doing  until  she  saw  the  two  men.  Indeed, 
at  the  moment,  he  thought  that  she  seemed  rather 
amused. 

He  thought  of  searching  out  Brother  Smith  and 
Professor  Petersen,  and  explaining  to  them  exactly 
what  had  happened  in  full  detail,  and  should  they 
still  continue  their  ribald  jests,  of  punching  their 
heads,  which  as  a  manly  young  fellow,  he  was  quite 
capable  of  doing.  Reflection  showed  him,  however, 
that  this  course  might  not  be  wise,  since  such  adven- 
tures are  apt  to  end  in  the  police-court,  where  the 
flower,  and  its  fruit,  would  obtain  undue  publicity. 
No,  he  must  leave  the  business  alone,  and  trust  that 
Juliette  would  be  merciful.  Supposing  that  she  were 
to  tell  Madame  that  he  had  tried  to  kiss  her,  though 
probably  she  would  not  mention  that  he  had  actually 
succeeded ! 


GODFREY  BECOMES  A  HERO         177 

The  mere  idea  made  him  feel  cold  down  the  back. 
He  felt  sure  that  Madame  would  believe  the  worst  of 
him;  to  judge  from  their  conversations,  ladies,  good 
as  they  all  were,  invariably  did  seem  to  believe  the 
worst  in  such  affairs.  Should  he  throw  himself  upon 
the  mercy  of  the  Pasteur?  Again,  no.  It  would  be 
so  hard  to  make  him  comprehend.  Also,  if  he  did, 
he  might  suggest  that  the  altar  was  the  only  possible 
expiation.  And — and,  oh!  he  must  confess  it,  she 
was  very  nice  and  sweet,  but  he  did  not  wish  to  marry 
Juliette  and  live  with  her  all  his  life. 

No,  there  was  but  one  thing  to  be  done:  keep  the 
burden  of  his  secret  locked  in  his  own  breast,  though, 
unfortunately,  it  was  locked  as  well  in  those  of  Juliette 
and  of  two  uninvited  observers,  and  probably  would 
soon  also  be  locked  in  the  capacious  bosom  of  Madame 
Riennes.  For  the  rest,  towards  Juliette  in  the  future, 
he  would  observe  an  attitude  of  the  strictest  propriety; 
never  more  should  she  have  occasion  to  complain  of 
his  conduct,  which  henceforth  would  be  immaculate. 
Alas!  how  easy  it  is  for  the  most  innocent  to  be  mis- 
judged, and  apparently,  not  without  reason. 

This  reflection  brought  something  to  Godfrey's  mind 
which  had  escaped  it  in  his  first  disturbance,  also  con- 
nected with  a  flower.  There  came  before  him  the 
vision  of  a  London  square,  and  of  a  tall,  pale  girl, 
in  an  antique  dress,  giving  a  rose  to  a  man  in  knight's 
armour,  which  rose  both  of  them  kissed  simul- 
taneously. Of  course,  when  he  saw  it  he  had  ruled 
out  the  rose  and  only  thought  of  the  kisses,  although, 
now  that  he  came  to  think  of  it,  a  rose  is  of  a  much 
thicker  texture  than  a  lily.  As  he  had  witnessed  that 
little  scene,  and  drawn  his  own  conclusions,  so  others 


178  LOVE  ETERNAL 

had  witnessed  another  little  scene  that  afternoon,  and 
made  therefrom  deductions  which,  in  his  innocent  soul, 
he  knew  to  be  totally  false.  Suppose,  then,  that  his 
deductions  were  also  false.  Oh!  it  was  not  possible. 
Besides,  a  barrier  built  of  rose  leaves  was  not  sufficient, 
which  again,  with  perfect  justice,  he  remembered  was 
exactly  what  Brother  Smith  and  Professor  Petersen 
had  thought  of  one  composed  of  lily  petals. 

There  for  the  time  the  matter  ended.  Juliette  re- 
appeared on  the  morrow  quite  cured  of  her  headache, 
and  as  gay  and  charming  as  ever.  Possibly  she  had 
confided  in  her  mamma,  who  had  told  her  that  after 
all  things  were  not  so  terrible,  even  if  they  had  been 
seen. 

At  any  rate,  the  equilibrium  was  restored.  Godfrey 
acted  on  his  solemn  resolutions  of  haughtiness  and 
detachment  for  quite  an  hour,  after  which  Juliette 
threw  a  kitten  at  him  and  asked  what  was  the  matter, 
and  then  sang  him  one  of  her  pretty  chansonettes  to 
the  accompaniment  of  a  guitar  with  three  strings, 
which  closed  the  incident.  Still  there  were  no  more 
flower  hunts  and  no  new  adventures.  Tacitly,  but 
completely,  everything  of  the  sort  was  dropped  out 
of  their  relationship.  They  remained  excellent 
friends,  on  affectionate  terms  indeed,  but  that  was  all. 

Meanwhile,  owing  to  his  doubts  arising  out  of  a 
singular  coincidence  concerned  with  flowers  and  kisses, 
Godfrey  gradually  made  up  his  mind  to  write  to 
Isobel.  Indeed,  he  had  half  composed  the  epistle 
when  at  the  end  of  one  of  his  brief  letters  his  father 
informed  him  that  she  had  gone  to  Mexico  with  her 
uncle.  So  it  came  about  that  it  was  never  posted, 
since  it  is  a  kind  of  superstition  with  young  people 


GODFREY  BECOMES  A  HERO         179 

that  letters  can  only  be  delivered  at  the  place  where 
the  addressee  last  resided.  It  rarely  occurs  to  them 
that  these  may  be  forwarded,  and  ultimately  arrive. 
Nor,  indeed,  did  it  occur  to  Godfrey  that  as  Isobel's 
uncle  was  the  British  Minister  to  a  certain  country, 
an  envelope  addressed  to  her  to  his  care  in  that  country 
probably  would  have  reached  her. 

She  was  gone  and  there  was  an  end;  it  was  of  no 
use  to  think  more  of  the  matter.  Still,  he  was  sorry, 
because  in  that  same  letter  his  father  had  alluded 
casually  to  the  death  of  Lady  Jane,  which  had  caused 
Hawk's  Hall  to  be  shut  up  for  a  while,  and  he  would 
have  liked  to  condole  with  Isobel  on  her  loss.  He 
knew  that  she  loved  her  mother  dearly,  and  of  this 
gentle  lady  he  himself  had  very  affectionate  remem- 
brances, since  she  had  always  been  most  kind  to  him. 
Yet  for  the  reasons  stated,  he  never  did  so. 

About  a  fortnight  after  the  flower  episode  a  chance 
came  Godfrey's  way  of  making  an  Alp-climbing  expe- 
dition in  the  company  of  some  mountaineers.  They 
were  friends  of  the  Pasteur  who  joined  the  party 
himself,  but  stayed  in  a  village  at  the  foot  of  the 
mountains  they  were  to  climb,  since  for  such  exercise 
he  had  lost  the  taste.  The  first  two  expeditions  went 
off  very  successfully,  Godfrey  showing  himself  most 
agile  at  the  sport  which  suited  his  adventurous  spirit' 
and  delighted  him.  By  nature,  notwithstanding;  tri^«  o  w 
dreamy  characteristics,  he  was  fearless^atoah^-i^ajtf'  ,_,.  o 


. 

where  his  personal  safety  was  concerh&Mdnd  H$Lv5h$  £fcrq 
a  good  head,  it  gave  him  plQ8isufe::to;crekpialo 
edge  of  precipices,  or  «pjsli$p$ry;'ic,e: 
niches  with  an,  3x0  ;fqr  his  ftot^j  it.'      s-  S*  g 


.'^    re    &j  p  ST  ^  <T  g 

^   §    £L<2  ta  ^*  5-'  O 

0  -°*  S'  w  ^    K«  r 

'•*•  3  rt      «  J. 

J^|  S*  !-r  S.  S*         w  •  <? 

55"   T  ^  ^     JrT  '/? 

CD  f— ^.  ^\s        10  Kj 


i8o  LOVE  ETERNAL 

Then  came  the  third  attempt,  up  a  really  difficult 
peak  which  had  not  yet  been  conquered  that  year. 
The  details  of  the  expedition  do  not  matter,  but  the 
end  of  it  was  that  at  a  particularly  perilous  place  one 
of  the  party  lost  his  head  or  his  breath  and  rolled 
from  the  path. 

There  he  lay  half  senseless,  on  the  brink  of  a  gulf, 
with  a  drop  of  a  thousand  feet  or  more  beneath  him. 
As  it  happened,  they  were  climbing  in  two  lots  of 
three,  each  of  which  lots  was  roped  together,  but  at 
some  distance  between  the  parties,  that  with  the  guide 
being  a  good  way  ahead. 

Godfrey  was  leading  his  party  along  the  track  made 
by  the  other,  but  their  progress  was  not  very  rapid 
owing  to  the  weakness  of  the  man  who  had  fallen 
who,  as  it  afterwards  transpired,  suffered  from  his 
heart,  and  was  affected  by  the  altitude.  The  climber 
behind  Godfrey  was  strong  and  bold;  also,  as  it 
chanced  at  the  moment  of  the  fall,  this  man's  feet 
were  planted  upon  a  lump  of  projecting  rock,  so  firmly 
that  by  throwing  himself  forward  against  the  snow 
slope,  grasping  another  lump  of  rock  with  his  left 
~nd  and  bearir"-  e  alpenstock  with  his  right, 

veight  of  their  companion. 

1   them   together,   though 

at  the  point  where  most 

on  a  knife-like  edge  of 

momentarily  danger  of 

lovements  of  the  weight 

3  edge. 

Dppage  warned  Godfrey 
irned  round  and  studied 
icxperienced  eye  it  was 


GODFREY  BECOMES  A  HERO         181 

obvious  that  a  catastrophe  was  imminent.  Now  there 
were  two  things  which  might  be  done ;  one  was  to  stay 
in  his  place  and  help  to  bear  the  strain  of  the  swinging 
body,  for  almost  immediately  the  fainting  man  slipped 
from  the  ledge,  and  hung  above  the  gulf.  The  other 
was  to  trust  to  number  two  to  hold  his  weight,  and 
go  to  his  assistance  in  the  hope  of  being  able  to  support 
him  until  the  guide  could  return  with  the  first  party. 
As  by  a  flash-like  working  of  the  mind  Godfrey 
weighed  these  alternatives,  his  quick  eye  saw  what 
looked  like  a  little  bit  of  fluff  appear  from  the  under- 
side of  the  rope,  which  told  him  that  one  at  least  of 
the  strands  must  have  severed  upon  the  edge  of  ice. 
Then  almost  instinctively  he  made  his  choice. 

"  Can  you  hold  him  ?  "  he  said  swiftly  to  number 
two,  who  answered,  "  Yes,  I  think  so,"  in  a  muffled 
voice. 

"  Then  I  go  to  help  him." 

"  If  you  slip,  I  cannot  bear  you  both,"  said  the 
muffled  voice. 

"  No,"  answered  Godfrey,  and  drawing  the  sheath 
knife  he  wore,  deliberately  he  cut  the  rope  which 
joined  him  to  number  two. 

Then  he  scrambled  down  to  the  ledge  without  much 
difficulty,  reaching  it,  but  just  in  time,  for  now  the 
razor  blade  of  the  ice  had  cut  half  through  the  rope, 
and  very  soon  the  swinging  of  the  senseless  weight 
beneath  must  complete  its  work.  This  ledge,  being 
broad,  though  sloping,  was  not  a  particularly  bad 
place;  moreover,  on  it  were  little  hummocks  of  ice, 
resulting  from  snow  that  had  melted  and  frozen  again, 
against  one  of  which  Godfrey  was  able  to  rest  his 
left  shoulder,  and  even  to  pass  his  arm  round  it.  But 


182  LOVE  ETERNAL 

here  came  the  rub.  He  could  not  get  sufficient  grip 
of  the  thin  rope  with  his  right  hand  beyond  the  point 
where  it  was  cut,  to  enable  him  to  support  even  half 
the  weight  that  hung  below.  Should  it  sever,  as  it 
must  do  very  shortly,  it  would  be  torn  from  his  grasp. 

What  then  could  be  done?  Godfrey  peered  over 
the  edge.  The  man  was  swinging  not  more  than  two 
feet  below  its  brink,  that  is  to  say,  the  updrawn  loop 
of  his  stout  leather  belt,  to  which  the  rope  was  fast- 
ened, was  about  that  distance  from  the  brink,  and  on 
either  side  of  it  he  hung  down  like  a  sack  tied  round 
the  middle,  quite  motionless  in  his  swoon,  his  head 
to  one  side  and  his  feet  to  the  other. 

Could  he  reach  and  grasp  that  leather  belt  without 
falling  himself,  and  if  so,  could  he  bear  the  man's 
weight  and  not  be  dragged  over?  Godfrey  shrank 
from  the  attempt;  his  blood  curdled.  Then  he  pic- 
tured, again  in  a  mind-flash,  his  poor  companion  whirl- 
ing down  through  space  to  be  dashed  to  pulp  at  the 
bottom,  and  the  agony  of  his  wife  and  children  whom 
he  knew,  and  who  had  wished  to  prevent  him  from 
climbing  that  day.  Oh!  he  would  try.  But  still  a 
paralysing  fear  overcame  him,  making  him  weak  and 
nervous.  Then  it  was  in  Godfrey's  extremity  that 
his  imagination  produced  a  very  curious  illusion. 
Quite  distinctly  he  seemed  to  hear  a  voice,  that  of 
Miss  Ogilvy,  say  to  him : 

"  Do  it,  Godfrey,  at  once,  or  it  will  be  too  late. 
We  will  help  you." 

This  phantasy,  or  whatever  it  was,  seemed  to  give 
him  back  his  nerve  and  courage.  Coolly  he  tightened 
the  grip  of  his  left  arm  about  the  knob  of  ice,  and 
drawing  himself  forward  a  little,  so  that  his  neck 


GODFREY  BECOMES  A  HERO         183 

and  part  of  his  chest  were  over  the  edge,  reached  his 
right  hand  downwards.  His  fingers  touched  the  belt; 
to  grasp  it  he  must  have  another  inch  and  a  half,  or 
two  inches.  He  let  himself  down  that  distance.  Oh! 
how  easy  it  seemed  to  do  so — and  thrust  his  fingers 
beneath  the  belt.  As  he  closed  them  round  it,  the 
rope  parted  and  all  the  weight  that  it  had  borne  came 
upon  Godfrey's  arm! 

How  long  did  he  support  it,  he  often  wondered 
afterwards.  For  ages  it  seemed.  He  felt  as  though 
his  right  arm  was  being  torn  from  the  socket,  while 
the  ice  cut  into  the  muscles  of  his  left  like  active 
torture.  He  filled  himself  with  air,  blowing  out  his 
lower  part  so  that  its  muscles  might  enable  him  to 
get  some  extra  hold  of  the  rough  ground;  he  dug 
his  toes  deep  into  the  icy  snow.  His  hat  fell  from 
his  head,  rested  for  a  moment  in  a  ridiculous  fashion 
upon  the  swinging  body  beneath,  then  floated  off 
composedly  into  space,  the  tall  feather  in  it  sticking 
upwards  and  fluttering  a  little.  He  heard  voices  ap- 
proaching, and  above  them  the  shouts  of  the  guide, 
though  what  these  said  conveyed  no  meaning  to  him. 
He  must  loose  his  hold  and  go  too.  No,  he  would 
not.  He  would  not,  although  now  he  felt  as  though 
his  shoulder- joint  were  dislocated,  also  that  his  left 
arm  was  slipping.  He  would  die  like  a  brave  man — 
like  a  brave  man.  Surely  this  was  death!  He  was 
gone — everything  passed  away. 

Godfrey  woke  again  to  find  himself  lying  upon  a 
flat  piece  of  snow.  Recollection  came  back  to  him 
with  a  pang,  and  he  thought  that  he  must  have  fallen. 

Then  he  heard  voices,  and  saw  faces  looking  at  him 


1 84  LOVE  ETERNAL 

as  through  a  mist,  also  he  felt  something  in  his  mouth 
and  throat,  which  seemed  to  burn  them.  One  of  the 
voices,  it  was  that  of  the  guide,  said: 

"Good,  good!  Me  finds  himself,  this  young  Eng- 
lish hero.  See,  his  eyes  open;  more  cognac,  it  will 
make  him  happy  and  prevent  the  shock.  Never  mind 
the  other  one;  he  is  all  right,  the  stupid." 

Godfrey  sat  up  and  tried  to  lift  his  right  arm  to 
thrust  away  the  flask  which  he  saw  approaching  him, 
but  he  could  not. 

"  Take  that  burning  stuff  away,  Karl,  confound 
you,"  he  said. 

Then  Karl,  a  good  honest  fellow,  who  was  on  his 
knees  beside  him,  threw  his  arms  about  him,  and  em- 
braced him  in  a  way  that  Godfrey  thought  theatrical 
and  unpleasant,  while  all  the  others,  except  the  rescued 
man,  who  lay  semi-comatose,  set  up  a  kind  of  paean 
of  praise,  like  a  Greek  chorus. 

"  Oh !  shut  up !  "  said  Godfrey,  "  if  we  waste  so 
much  time  we  shall  never  get  to  the  top,"  a  remark 
at  which  they  all  burst  out  laughing. 

"  They  talk  of  Providence  on  the  Alps,"  shouted 
Karl  in  stentorian  tones,  while  he  performed  a  kind 
of  war-dance,  "  but  that's  the  kind  of  providence  for 
me,"  and  he  pointed  to  Godfrey.  "  Many  things  have 
I  seen  in  my  trade  as  guide,  but  never  one  like  this. 
What?  To  cut  the  rope  for  the  sake  of  Monsieur 
there,"  and  he  pointed  to  number  two,  whose  share 
in  the  great  adventure  was  being  overlooked,  "  before 
giving  himself  to  almost  certain  death  for  the  sake 
of  Monsieur  with  the  weak  heart,  who  had  no  business 
on  a  mountain;  to  stretch  over  the  precipice  as  the 
line  parted,  and  hold  Monsieur  with  the  weak  heart 


GODFREY  BECOMES  A  HERO         185 

for  all  that  while,  till  I  could  get  a  noose  round  him — 
yes,  to  go  on  holding  him  after  he  himself  was  almost 
dead — without  a  mind!  Good  God!  never  has  there 
been  such  a  story  in  my  lifetime  on  these  Alps,  or 
in  that  of  my  father  before  me." 

Then  came  the  descent,  Godfrey  supported  on  the 
shoulder  of  the  stalwart  Karl,  who,  full  of  delight  at 
this  great  escape  from  tragedy,  and  at  having  a  tale 
to  tell  which  would  last  him  for  the  rest  of  his  life, 
"  jodelled "  spontaneously  at  intervals  in  his  best 
"  large-tip  "  voice,  and  occasionally  skipped  about  like 
a  young  camel,  while  "  Monsieur  with  the  weak 
heart  "  was  carried  in  a  chair  provided  to  bear  elderly 
ladies  up  the  lower  slopes  of  the  Alps. 

Some  swift-footed  mountaineer  had  sped  down  to 
the  village  ahead  of  them  and  told  all  the  story,  with 
the  result  that  when  they  reached  the  outskirts  of 
the  place,  an  excited  crowd  was  waiting  to  greet 
them,  including  two  local  reporters  for  Swiss  jour- 
nals. 

One  of  these,  who  contributed  items  of  interest  to 
the  English  press  also,  either  by  mistake,  or  in  order 
to  make  his  narrative  more  interesting,  added  to  a 
fairly  correct  description  of  the  incident,  a  statement 
that  the  person  rescued  by  Godfrey  was  a  young  lady. 
At  least,  so  the  story  appeared  in  the  London  papers 
next  morning,  under  the  heading  of  "  Heroic  Rescue 
on  the  Alps,"  or  in  some  instances  of,  "  A  Young 
English  Hero." 

Among  the  crowd  was  the  Pasteur,  who  beamed 
at  Godfrey  through  his  blue  spectacles,  but  took  no 
part  in  these  excited  demonstrations.  When  they 
were  back  at  their  hotel,  and  the  doctor  who  examined 


186  LOVE  ETERNAL 

Godfrey,  had  announced  that  he  was  suffering  from 
nothing  except  exhaustion  and  badly  sprained  muscles, 
he  said  simply: 

"  I  do  not  compliment  you,  my  dear  boy,  like  those 
others,  because  you  acted  only  as  I  should  have  ex- 
pected of  you  in  the  conditions.  Still,  I  am  glad  that 
in  this  case  another  was  not  added  to  my  long  list  of 
disappointments." 

"  /  didn't  act  at  all,  Pasteur,"  blurted  out  Godfrey. 
"  A  voice,  I  thought  it  was  Miss  Ogilvy's,  told  me 
what  to  do,  and  I  obeyed." 

The  old  gentleman  smiled  and  shook  his  head,  as 
he  answered : 

"  It  is  ever  thus,  young  Friend.  When  we  wish 
to  do  good  we  hear  a  voice  prompting  us,  which  we 
think  that  of  an  angel,  and  when  we  wish  to  do  evil, 
another  voice,  which  we  think  that  of  a  devil,  but 
believe  me,  the  lips  that  utter  both  of  them  are  in  our 
own  hearts.  The  rest  comes  only  from  the  excitement 
of  the  instant.  There  in  our  hearts  the  angel  and  the 
devil  dwell,  side  by  side,  like  the  two  figures  in  a 
village  weather-clock,  ready  to  appear,  now  one  and 
now  the  other,  as  the  breath  of  our  nature  blows 
them." 

"  But  I  heard  her,"  said  Godfrey  stubbornly. 

"  The  excitement  of  the  instant ! "  repeated  the 
Pasteur  blandly.  "  Had  I  been  so  situated  I  am  quite 
certain  that  I  should  have  heard  all  the  deceased  whom 
I  have  ever  known,"  and  he  patted  Godfrey's  dark 
hair  with  his  long,  thin  hand,  thanking  God  in  his 
heart  for  the  brave  spirit  which  He  had  been  pleased 
to  give  to  this  young  man,  who  had  grown  so  dear  to 
one  who  lacked  a  son.  Only  this  he  did  in  silence, 


GODFREY  BECOMES  A  HERO         187 

nor  did  he  ever  allude   to   the   subject   afterwards, 
except  as  a  commonplace  matter-of-course  event. 

Notwithstanding  the  "  jodellings  "  which  continued 
outside  his  window  to  a  late  hour,  and  the  bouquet  of 
flowers  which  was  sent  to  him  by  the  wife  of  the 
mayor,  who  felt  that  a  distinction  had  been  conferred 
upon  their  village  that  would  bring  them  many  vis- 
itors in  future  seasons,  and  ought  to  be  suitably 
acknowledged,  Godfrey  soon  dropped  into  a  deep 
sleep.  But  in  the  middle  of  the  night  it  passed  from 
him,  and  he  awoke  full  of  terrors.  Now,  for  the  first 
time,  he  understood  what  he  had  escaped,  and  how 
near  he  had  been  to  lying,  not  in  a  comfortable  bed, 
but  a  heap  of  splintered  bones  and  mangled  flesh  at 
the  foot  of  a  precipice,  whence,  perhaps,  it  would  have 
been  impossible  ever  to  recover  his  remains.  In  short, 
his  nerves  re-acted,  and  he  felt  anything  but  a  hero, 
rather  indeed,  a  coward  among  cowards.  Nor  did 
he  wish  ever  to  climb  another  Alp;  the  taste  had  quite 
departed  from  him.  To  tell  the  truth,  a  full  month 
went  by  before  he  was  himself  again,  and  during  that 
month  he  was  as  timid  as  a  kitten,  and  as  careful  of 
his  personal  safety  as  a  well-to-do  old  lady  unaccus- 
tomed to  travel. 


CHAPTER  XI 
JULIETTE'S  FAREWELL 

WHEN  Godfrey  returned  to  the  Maison  Blanche,  wear- 
ing a  handsome  gold  watch,  which  had  been  presented 
to  him  with  an  effusive  letter  of  thanks  by  the  gentle- 
man whom  he  had  rescued  and  his  relatives,  he  found 
himself  quite  a  celebrity.  Most  of  the  Pasteur's  con- 
gregation met  him  when  he  descended  from  the  dili- 
gence, and  waved  their  hats,  but  as  he  thanked  heaven, 
did  not  "  jodel." 

Leaving  the  Pasteur  to  make  some  acknowledg- 
ment, he  fled  to  the  house,  only  to  find  Madame, 
Juliette,  a  number  of  friends,  to  say  nothing  of  Jean, 
the  cook  and  the  servant  girl,  awaiting  him  there. 
Madame  beamed,  and  looked  as  though  she  were  about 
to  kiss  him;  the  fresh  and  charming  Juliette  shook 
his  hand,  and  murmured  into  his  ear  that  she  had  no 
idea  he  was  so  brave,  also  that  every  night  she  thanked 
the  Bon  Dieu  for  his  escape;  while  the  others  said 
something  appropriate — or  the  reverse. 

Once  more  he  fled,  this  time  to  his  bedroom.  There 
upon  his  dressing-table  lay  two  letters,  one  from  his 
father  and  one  addressed  in  a  curious  pointed  hand- 
writing, which  he  did  not  know.  This  he  opened  at 
once.  It  was  in  French,  and  ran,  as  translated : 

"  AH  !  LITTLE  BROTHER, — I  know  all  that  has  hap- 
pened to  you,  nor  did  your  dear  godmother  need  to  wait 

188 


JULIETTE'S  FAREWELL  189 

to  read  about  it  in  the  journals.  Indeed,  I  saw  it  in  my 
crystal  before  it  happened ;  you  with  the  man  hanging  to 
your  arm  and  the  rest.  But  then  a  cloud  came  over  the 
crystal,  and  I  could  not  see  the  end.  I  hoped  that  he 
would  pull  you  over  the  edge,  so  that  in  one  short  minute 
you  became  nothing  but  a  red  plum-pudding  at  the  bot- 
tom of  the  gulf.  For  you  know  that  the  sweetest- 
tempered  fairy  godmother  can  be  made  cross  by  wicked 
ingratitude  and  evil  treatment.  Do  not  think,  little 
Brother,  that  I  have  forgiven  you  for  bringing  that 
old  pasteur-fool  to  insult  and  threaten  me.  Not  so.  I 
pray  the  speerits  night  and  day  to  pay  you  back  in  your 
own  coin,  you  who  have  insulted  them  also.  Indeed,  it 
was  they  who  arranged  this  little  incident,  but  they  tell 
me  that  some  other  speerit  interfered  at  the  last  moment 
and  saved  you.  If  so,  better  luck  next  time,  for  do  not 
think  you  shall  escape  me  and  them.  Had  you  been  true 
to  us  you  should  have  had  great  good  fortune  and  every- 
thing you  desire  in  life,  including,  perhaps,  something 
that  you  desire  most  of  all.  As  it  is,  you  shall  have 
much  trouble  and  lose  what  you  desire  most  of  all.  Have 
you  been  kissing  that  pretty  Mademoiselle  again  and  try- 
ing to  make  her  as  bad  as  her  mother  ?  Well,  I  hope  you 
will,  because  it  will  hurt  that  old  fool-pasteur.  Wher- 
ever you  go,  remember  that  eyes  follow  you,  mine  and 
those  of  the  speerits.  Hate  and  bad  luck  to  you,  my 
little  Brother,  from  your  dear  godmamma,  whose  good 
heart  you  have  outraged.  So  fare  ill  till  you  hear  from 
me  again,  yes  and  always.  Now  you  will  guess  my  name, 
so  I  need  not  sign  it. 

"  P.S. — Eleanor  also  sends  you  her  hate  from  another 
sphere." 

This  precious  epistle,  rilled  with  malignity,  reaching 
him  in  the  midst  of  so  many  congratulations,  struck 
upon  Godfrey  like  a  blast  of  icy  wind  at  the  zenith 


190  LOVE  ETERNAL 

of  a  summer  day.  To  tell  the  truth  also,  it  frightened 
him. 

He  had  tried  to  forget  all  about  Madame  Riennes, 
and  now  here  she  was  stabbing  him  from  afar,  for 
the  letter  bore  a  Venice  postmark.  It  may  be  foolish, 
but  few  of  us  care  to  be  the  object  of  a  concentrated, 
personal  hate.  Perhaps  this  is  due  to  the  inherited 
superstitions  of  our  race,  not  long  emerged  from  the 
blackness  of  barbarism,  but  at  least  we  still  feel  as 
our  forefathers  did;  as  though  the  will  to  work  evil 
had  the  power  to  bring  about  the  evil  desired.  It  is 
nonsense,  since  were  it  true,  none  could  escape  the 
direst  misfortune,  as  every  one  of  us  is  at  some  time 
or  another  the  object  of  the  hate  or  jealousy  of  other 
human  beings.  Moreover,  as  most  of  us  believe,  there 
is  a  being,  not  human,  that  hates  us  individually  and 
collectively,  and  certainly  would  compass  our  destruc- 
tion, had  he  the  power,  which  happily  he  has  not, 
unless  we  ourselves  give  it  to  him. 

Godfrey  comforted  himself  with  this  reflection,  also, 
with  another;  that  in  this  instance  the  issue  of  his 
peril  had  been  far  different  from  what  his  enemy 
desired.  Yet,  with  his  nerves  still  shaken  both  by 
his  spiritualistic  experiences,  and  by  those  of  the  dan- 
ger which  he  had  passed,  the  letter  undoubtedly  did 
affect  him  in  the  way  that  it  was  meant  to  do,  and 
the  worst  of  it  was  that  he  could  not  consult  his  friend 
and  guide,  the  Pasteur,  because  of  the  allusion  to  the 
scene  with  Juliette. 

Throwing  it  down  as  though  it  were  a  venomous 
snake,  which  indeed,  it  was,  he  opened  that  from  his 
father,  which  was  brief.  It  congratulated  him  coldly 
on  his  escape,  whereof  Mr.  Knight  said  he  had  heard, 


JULIETTE'S  FAREWELL  191 

not  in  the  way  that  he  would  have  expected,  from 
himself,  but  through  the  papers.  This,  it  may  be 
explained,  was  not  strange,  since  the  account  was 
telegraphed  long  before  Godfrey  had  time  to  write. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  he  had  not  written,  for 
who  cares  to  indite  epistles  to  an  unsympathetic  and 
critical  recipient?  Most  people  only  compose  letters 
for  the  benefit  of  those  who  like  to  receive  them  and, 
by  intuition,  read  in  them  a  great  deal  more  than  the 
sender  records  in  black  and  white.  For  letter-writing, 
at  its  best,  is  an  allusive  art,  something  that  suggests 
rather  than  describes.  It  was  because  Godfrey  appre- 
ciated this  truth  in  a  half  unconscious  fashion,  that 
he  did  not  care  to  undertake  an  active  correspondence 
with  his  father.  It  is  the  exception  also,  for  young 
men  to  care  to  correspond  with  their  fathers;  the 
respective  outlooks,  and  often,  the  respective  interests, 
are  too  diverse.  With  mothers  it  is  different,  at  any 
rate,  sometimes,  for  in  their  case  the  relationship  is 
more  intimate.  In  the  instance  of  the  male  parent, 
throughout  the  realm  of  nature,  it  is  apt  to  have  an 
accidental  aspect  or  to  acquire  one  as  time  goes  by. 

The  letter  went  on  to  request  that  he  would  climb 
no  more  Alps,  since  he  had  been  sent  to  Switzerland, 
to  scale  not  mountains,  but  the  peaks  of  knowledge. 
It  added,  with  that  naive  selfishness  from  which  some- 
times even  the  most  pious  are  not  exempt,  "  had  you 
been  killed,  in  addition  to  losing  your  own  life,  which 
would  not  so  much  have  mattered,  since  I  trust  that 
you  would  have  passed  to  a  better,  you  would  have 
done  a  wrong  to  your  family.  In  that  event,  as  you 
are  not  yet  of  age,  I  believe  the  money  which  your 
friend  left  to  you  recently,  would  have  returned  to 


192  LOVE  ETERNAL 

her  estate  instead  of  going  to  benefit  your  natural 
heirs." 

Godfrey  pondered  over  the  words  "  natural  heirs," 
wondering  who  these  might  be.  Coming  finally  to 
the  conclusion  that  he  had  but  one,  namely  his  father, 
which  accounted  for  the  solicitude  expressed  so  earn- 
estly in  the  letter,  he  uttered  an  expletive,  which 
should  not  have  passed  his  youthful  lips,  and  threw 
it  down  upon  the  top  of  that  of  Madame  Riennes. 

After  this  he  left  the  room  much  depressed,  and 
watching  his  opportunity,  for  the  merry  party  in  the 
salon  who  had  gathered  to  greet  him  were  still  there 
drinking  heavy  white  wine,  he  slipped  through  the 
back  door  to  walk  in  the  woods.  These  woods  were 
lonely,  but  then  they  suited  his  mood.  In  truth,  never 
had  he  felt  more  alone  in  his  life.  His  father  and 
he  were  utterly  different,  and  estranged,  and  he  had 
no  other  relatives.  In  friends  he  was  equally  lacking. 
Miss  Ogilvy,  whom  he  had  begun  to  love,  was  dead, 
and  a  friend  in  heaven  is  some  way  off,  although  he 
did  think  he  had  heard  her  voice  when  he  was  so 
near  to  joining  her. 

There  remained  no  one  save  the  Pasteur,  of  whom 
he  was  growing  truly  fond,  so  much  so,  that  he  wished 
that  the  old  gentleman  had  been  appointed  to  be  his 
father  according  to  the  flesh.  The  rest  of  the  world 
was  a  blank  to  him,  except  for  Isobel,  who  had  de- 
serted him. 

Besides,  some  new  sentiment  had  entered  into  his 
relations  with  Isobel,  whereby  these  were  half  spoiled. 
Of  course,  although  he  did  not  altogether  understand 
it,  this  was  the  eternal  complication  of  sex  which 
curses  more  than  it  blesses  in  the  world;  of  sex,  the 


JULIETTE'S  FAREWELL  193' 

eating  fire  that  is  so  beautiful  but  burns.  For  when 
that  fire  has  passed  over  the  flowers  of  friendship,  they 
are  changed  into  some  new  growth,  that  however 
gorgeous  it  may  be,  yet  always  smells  of' flame.  Sex 
being  the  origin  of  life  is  necessarily  also  the  origin 
of  trouble,  since  life  and  trouble  are  inseparable,  and 
devours  the  gentle  joys  of  friendship,  as  a  kite  de- 
vours little  singing  birds.  These  go  to  its  sustenance, 
it  is  true,  and  both  are  birds,  but  the  kite  is  a  very 
different  creature  from  the  nightingale  or  the  lark. 
One  of  the  great  advantages  of  matrimony,  if  it 
endures  long  enough,  is  that  when  the  sex  attraction, 
which  was  its  cause,  has  faded,  or  practically  died, 
once  more  it  makes  friendship  possible. 

Perhaps  the  best  thing  of  the  little  we  have  been 
told  about  heaven,  is  that  in  it  there  will  be  no  sex. 
If  there  were,  it  is  doubtful  whether  it  could  remain 
heaven,  as  we  define  that  state,  since  then  must  come 
desires,  and  jealousies,  and  selfishness,  and  disap- 
pointment; also  births  and  deaths,  since  we  cannot 
conceive  sex-love  without  an  object,  or  a  beginning 
without  an  end.  From  all  of  which  troubles  we  learn 
that  the  angels  are  relieved. 

Now  this  wondrous,  burning  mantle  of  sex  had 
fallen  on  Godfrey  and  Isobel,  as  he  had  learned 
when  he  saw  her  with  the  knight  in  armour  in  the 
garden,  and  everything  was  changed  beneath  its  fiery, 
smothering  folds,  and  for  him  there  was  no  Isobel. 
His  friend  had  gone,  and  he  was  left  wandering  alone. 
His  distress  was  deep,  and  since  he  was  too  young 
to  mask  his  feelings,  as  people  must  learn  to  do  in 
life,  it  showed  itself  upon  his  face.  At  supper  that 
night,  all  of  the  little  party  observed  it,  for  he  who 


194  LOVE  ETERNAL 

should  have  been  gay,  was  sad  and  spoke  little.  After- 
wards, when  the  Pasteur  and  Godfrey  went  to  the 
observatory  to  resume  their  astronomical  studies,  the 
former  looked  at  him  a  while,  and  said : 

"  What  is  the  matter,  Godfrey?    Tell  me." 

"  I  cannot,"  he  replied  colouring. 

"  Is  it  so  bad  as  that  then  ?  I  thought  that  perhaps 
you  had  only  received  a  letter,  or  letters." 

"  I  received  two  of  them.  One  was  from  my  father, 
who  scolds  me  because  I  was  nearly  killed." 

"  Indeed.  He  seems  fond  of  scolding,  your  father. 
But  that  is  no  new  thing,  and  one  to  which  you  should 
be  used.  How  about  the  other  letter?  Was  it,  per- 
chance, from  Madame  Riennes  ?  " 

"  It  is  not  signed,  but  I  think  so." 

"  Really.  It  is  odd,  but,  I  too,  have  had  a  letter 
from  Madame  Riennes,  also  unsigned,  and  I  think, 
after  reading  it,  that  you  may  safely  show  me  yours, 
and  then  tell  me  the  truth  of  all  these  accusations  she 
makes  concerning  you  and  Juliette." 

Now  Godfrey  turned  crimson. 

"How  can  I?"  he  murmured.  "For  myself  I  do 
not  care,  but  it  seems  like  betraying — someone  else." 

"  It  is  difficult,  my  boy,  to  betray  that  which  is 
already  well  known,  to  me,  among  others.  Had  this 
letter,  perchance,  something  to  do  with  an  expedition 
which  you  two  young  people  made  to  search  for 
flowers,  and  nothing  else?  Ah!  I  see  it  is  so.  Then 
you  may  safely  show  it  to  me,  since  I  know  all  about 
that  expedition." 

So  Godfrey  produced  the  epistle,  for  at  the  moment 
he  forgot  that  it  contained  allusions  to  Madame  also, 
and  holding  it  gingerly  between  his  thumb  and  finger, 


JULIETTE'S  FAREWELL  195 

handed  it  to  him.  The  Pasteur  read  it  through  with- 
out showing  the  slightest  emotion. 

"  Ah !"  he  said,  when  he  had  finished,  "  in  her  way 
she  is  quite  magnificent,  that  old  witch.  But,  surely, 
one  day,  unless  she  repents,  she  will  be  accommodated 
with  some  particular  hell  of  her  own,  since  there  are 
few  worthy  to  share  it  with  her.  You  see,  my  boy, 
what  she  says  about  Madame.  Well,  as  I  think  I 
told  her,  that  dear  wife  of  mine  may  have  had  her 
foolish  moments,  like  most  others,  if  all  the  truth 
were  known.  But  note  this — there  is  a  great  differ- 
ence between  those  who  have  foolish  moments,  of 
whatever  sort,  and  those  who  make  it  their  business 
to  seek  such  moments;  further,  between  those  who 
repent  of  their  errors  and  those  who  glory  in,  and 
try  to  continue  them.  If  you  have  any  doubt  of  that 
study  the  Bible,  and  read  amongst  others,  of  David, 
who  lived  to  write  the  Psalms,  and  of  Mary  Magda- 
lene, who  became  a  saint.  Also,  although  this  did 
not  occur  to  that  tiger  of  a  woman,  I  may  have  known 
of  those  moments,  and  even  done  my  best  to  help  my 
wife  out  of  them,  and  been  well  rewarded  "  — here 
his  kind  old  face  beamed  like  the  sun — "  oh !  yes,  most 
gloriously  rewarded.  So  a  fig  for  the  old  witch  and 
her  tales  of  Madame!  And  now  tell  me  the  truth 
about  yourself  and  Juliette,  with  a  mind  at  ease,  for 
Juliette  has  told  it  to  me  already,  and  I  wish  to  com- 
pare the  stories." 

So  Godfrey  told  him  everything,  and  a  ridiculous 
little  tale  it  was.  When  he  had  finished  the  Pasteur 
burst  out  laughing. 

"  You  are  indeed  sinners,  you  two,"  he  said,  "  so 
great,  that  surely  you  should  stand  dressed  in  white 


'196  LOVE  ETERNAL 

sheets,  one  on  either  side  of  the  altar,  with  the  crushed 
flower  in  the  middle.  Ah!  that  is  what  I  regret,  this 
flower,  for  it  is  very  rare.  Only  once  have  I  found  it 
in  all  my  life,  and  then,  as  there  was  no  lady  present, 
I  left  it  where  it  grew.  Hearken,  all  this  is  a  pack 
of  nonsense. 

"  Hearken  again,  Godfrey.  Everybody  thinks  me 
an  old  fool.  How  can  it  be  helped  with  such  a  face 
as  mine,  and  these  blue  spectacles,  which  I  must  wear  ? 
But  even  an  old  fool  sees  things  sometimes.  Thus, 
I  have  seen  that  Madame,  who  had  once  plenty  of 
money  to  play  with,  and  longs,  poor  dear,  for  the  fine 
things  of  life,  is  very  anxious  that  her  Juliette  should 
make  a  good  marriage.  I  have  seen,  too,  that  she  has 
thought  of  you,  whom  she  thinks  much  richer  than 
you  are,  as  a  good  match  for  Juliette,  and  has  done 
her  best  to  make  Juliette  think  as  she  does,  all  of 
which  is  quite  natural  in  her,  and  indeed,  praiseworthy, 
especially  if  she  likes  and  respects  the  young  man. 
But,  my  boy,  it  is  the  greatest  nonsense.  To  begin 
with,  you  do  not,  and  never  will,  care  for  Juliette, 
and  she  does  not,  and  never  will,  care  for  you.  Your 
natures,  ah !  they  are  quite  different.  You  have  some- 
thing big  in  you,  and  Juliette — well,  she  has  not. 
Marriage  with  her  would  be  for  you  a  misery,  and 
for  Juliette  a  misery  also,  since  what  have  you  in 
common?  Besides,  even  were  it  otherwise,  do  you 
think  I  would  allow  such  a  thing,  with  you  so  young 
and  in  my  charge?  Bah!  be  good  friends  with  that 
pretty 'girl,  and  go  hunt  for  flowers  with  her  as  much 
as  you  like,  for  nothing  will  ever  come  of  it.  Only, 
bet  no  more  in  kisses,  for  they  are  dangerous,  and 
sparks  sometimes  set  fire  to  haystacks." 


JULIETTE'S  FAREWELL  197 

"  Indeed,  I  will  not,"  exclaimed  Godfrey  with 
fervour. 

"  There,  then,  that  trouble  is  finished."  (Here, 
although  he  did  not  know  it,  the  Pasteur  was  mis- 
taken. )  "  And  now,  as  to  the  rest  of  this  letter.  It 
is  malignant,  malignant,  and  its  writer  will  always 
seek  to  do  you  ill,  and  perhaps,  sometimes  succeed. 
It  is  the  price  which  you  must  pay  for  having  mixed 
with  such  a  person  who  mixes  with  the  devil,  though 
that  was  no  fault  of  yours,  my  boy.  Still,  always, 
always  in  the  world  we  are  suffering  from  the  faults 
of  others.  It  is  a  law,  the  law  of  vicarious  sacrifice, 
which  runs  through  everything,  why,  we  do  not  know. 
Still,  be  not  afraid,  for  it  is  you  who  will  win  at  the 
last,  not  she.  For  the  rest,  soon  you  will  go  away 
from  here,  since  the  year  for  which  you  came  is 
almost  finished,  and  you  must  turn  your  mind  to  the 
bigger  life.  I  pray  you  when  you  do,  not  to  forget 
me,  for,  my  boy,  I,  who  have  no  son,  have  learned 
to  love  you  like  a  son,  better  perhaps,  than  had  you 
been  one,  since  often  I  have  observed  that  it  is  not 
always  fathers  and  sons  that  love  each  other  most, 
frequently  the  other  way,  indeed. 

"  Also  I  pray  another  thing  of  you — that  if  you 
think  I  have  any  wisdom,  or  any  little  light  in  the 
lamp  of  this  ugly  old  body  of  mine,  you  will  always 
take  me  for  a  counsellor,  and  write  to  me  concerning 
your  troubles,  (as  indeed,  you  must  do,  for  remember, 
I  am  your  trustee  of  this  property,)  and  perhaps 
pay  attention  to  the  advice  I  may  give.  And  now 
let  us  get  to  our  stars;  they  are  much  more  amus- 
ing than  Madame  Riennes.  It  is  strange  to  think 
that  the  same  God  who  made  the  stars  also  made 


198  LOVE  ETERNAL 

Madame  Riennes.  Truly  He  is  a  charitable  and  tol- 
erant God!" 

"  Perhaps  the  devil  made  her,"  suggested  Godfrey. 

"  It  may  be  so,  it  may  be  so,  but  is  it  not  said,  in 
the  Book  of  Proverbs,  I  believe,  that  He  makes  both 
good  and  evil  for  His  own  infinite  ends,  though  what 
these  may  be,  I,  worm  that  I  am,  cannot  pretend  to 
understand.  And  now  to  our  stars  that  are  far  away 
and  pure,  though  who  knows  but  that  if  one  were 
near  to  them,  they  would  prove  as  full  of  foulness 
as  the  earth  ?  " 

The  Pasteur  was  right  when  he  said  that  Madame 
Riennes  would  not  cease  from  attempts  to  do  evil  to 
Godfrey,  and  therefore  wrong  when  he  added  that 
the  trouble  she  had  caused  was  finished.  Of  this, 
that  young  man  was  made  painfully  aware,  when  a 
fortnight  or  so  later  another  letter  from  his  father 
reached  him.  It  informed  him  that  Mr.  Knight  had 
received  an  anonymous  communication  which  stated 
that  he,  Godfrey,  was  leading  an  evil  life  at  Lucerne, 
also  that  he  was  being  entrapped  into  a  marriage  with 
Mademoiselle  Boiset,  whom  he  had  been  seen  em- 
bracing behind  some  rocks.  The  letter  ended : 

"  Lacking  proof,  I  do  not  accept  these  stories  as  facts, 
although,  as  there  is  no  smoke  without  fire,  I  think  it 
probable  that  there  is  something  in  them  and  that  you 
are  drifting  into  undesirable  companionships.  At  any 
rate  I  am  sure  that  the  time  has  come  for  you  to  return 
home  and  to  commence  your  studies  for  the  Church.  I 
have  to  request,  therefore,  that  you  will  do  this  at  once 
as  I  am  entering  your  name  at  my  own  college  for  the 
next  term  and  have  so  informed  the  trustees  under  Miss 


JULIETTE'S  FAREWELL  199 

Ogilvy's  will,  who  will  no  doubt  meet  the  expense  and 
give  you  a  suitable  allowance.  I  am  writing  to  the 
Pasteur  Boiset  to  the  same  effect.  Looking  forward  to 
seeing  you,  when  we  can  discuss  all  these  matters  in 
more  detail, — I  am,  your  affectionate  father, 

"  RICHARD  KNIGHT." 


In  dismay  Godfrey  took  this  letter  to  the  Pasteur. 
For  the  last  thing  Godfrey  wished  to  do  was  to  leave 
Kleindorf  and  the  house  in  which  he  was  so  welcome 
and  so  well  treated,  in  order  to  return  to  the  stony 
bosom  of  Monk's  Acre  Abbey. 

"  I  have  also  received  a  letter,"  said  Monsieur 
Boiset ;  "  it  seems  that  you  and  I  always  receive  dis- 
agreeable letters  together.  The  last  were  from  the 
witch-woman  Riennes,  and  these  are  from  your  father. 
He  has  an  unpleasant  way  of  writing,  this  father  of 
yours,  although  he  is  a  good  man,  for  here  he  sug- 
gests that  I  am  trying  to  trap  you  for  a  son-in-law, 
wherein  I  see  the  fat  finger  of  the  witch  Riennes, 
who  has  so  great  a  passion  for  the  anonymous  epistle. 
Well,  if  he  had  said  that  I  wished  to  trap  you  for 
a  son,  he  would  have  shot  nearer  to  the  bull's-eye, 
but  for  a  son-in-law,  as  you  know,  it  is  not  so.  Still, 
you  must  go;  indeed,  it  is  time  that  you  went,  now 
that  you  talk  French  so  well,  and  have,  I  hope,  learnt 
other  things  also,  you  to  whom  the  big  world  opens. 
But  see,  your  father  talks  of  your  entering  the  Church. 
Tell  me,  is  this  so?  If  so,  of  course,  I  shall  be  happy." 

"  No,"  said  Godfrey,  shaking  his  head. 

"  Then,"  replied  the  Pasteur,  "  I  may  say  that  I 
am  equally  happy.  It  is  not  everyone  that  has  a  call 
for  this  vocation,  and  there  are  more  ways  of  doing 


200  LOVE  ETERNAL 

good  in  the  world  than  from  the  floor  of  a  pulpit. 
Myself,  I  have  wondered  sometimes — but  let  that  be; 
it  is  the  lot  of  certain  of  us,  who  think  in  our  vanity 
that  we  could  have  done  great  things,  to  be  obliged 
to  do  the  small  things,  because  God  has  so  decreed. 
To  one  He  gives  the  ten  talents,  to  the  other  only 
one  talent,  or  even  but  a  franc.  Whatever  it  be,  of  it 
we  must  make  the  best,  and  so  long  as  we  do  not  bury 
it,  we  have  done  well.  I  can  only  say  that  I  have 
tried  to  use  my  franc,  or  my  fifty  centimes,  to  such 
advantage  as  I  could,  and  hope  that  in  some  other 
place  and  time  I  may  be  entrusted  with  a  larger  sum. 
Oh!  my  boy,  we  are  all  of  us  drawn  by  the  horses 
of  Circumstance,  but,  as  I  believe,  those  horses  have 
a  driver  who  knows  whither  he  is  guiding  us." 

A  few  days  later  Godfrey  went.  His  last  midday 
meal  at  the  Maison  Blanche,  before  he  departed  to 
catch  the  night  train  for  Paris,  was  rather  a  melan- 
choly function.  Madame,  who  had  grown  fond  of 
him  in  her  somewhat  frivolous  way,  openly  dropped 
tears  into  her  soup.  Juliette  looked  sad  and  distraite, 
though  inwardly  supported  by  the  knowledge  that  her 
distant  cousin,  the  notary  Jules,  was  arriving  on  the 
morrow  to  spend  his  vacation  at  the  Maison  Blanche, 
so  that  Godfrey's  room  would  not  be  without  an 
occupant.  Indeed,  in  her  pretty  little  head  she  was 
already  planning  certain  alterations  in  the  arrange- 
ment of  the  furniture,  to  make  it  more  conformable 
to  the  very  different  tastes  of  the  new  comer. 

Still,  she  was  truly  sorry  to  lose  her  friend  the 
Hibou,  although  she  had  not  been  able  to  fulfil  her 
mother's  wish,  and  make  him  fall  in  love  with  her, 
or  even  to  fall  in  love  with  him  herself.  As  she  ex- 


JULIETTE'S  FAREWELL  201 

plained  to  Madame  Boiset,  it  was  of  no  use  to  try, 
since  between  their  natures  there  were  fixed  not  only 
a  great  gulf,  but  several  whole  ranges  of  the  Alps, 
and  whereas  the  Hibou  sat  gazing  at  the  stars  from 
their  topmost  peak,  she  was  picking  flowers  in  the 
plain  and  singing  as  she  picked  them. 

The  Pasteur  did  not  make  matters  better  by  the 
extremely  forced  gaiety  of  his  demeanour.  He  told 
stories  and  cracked  bad  jokes  in  the  intervals  of  con- 
gratulating Godfrey  at  his  release  from  so  dull  a  place 
as  Kleindorf.  Godfrey  said  little  or  nothing,  but 
reflected  to  himself  that  the  Pasteur  did  not  know 
Monk's  Acre. 

At  last  the  moment  came,  and  he  departed  with 
a  heavy  heart,  for  he  had  learned  to  love  these  simple, 
kindly  folk,  especially  the  Pasteur.  How  glad  he  was 
when  it  was  over  and  he  had  lost  sight  of  the  handker- 
chiefs that  were  being  waved  at  him  from  the  gate 
as  the  hired  vehicle  rolled  away.  Not  that  it  was 
quite  over,  for  the  Pasteur  accompanied  him  to.  the 
station,  in  order,  as  he  said,  to  take  his  last  instruc- 
tions about  the  Villa  Ogilvy,  although,  in  truth,  God- 
frey had  none  to  give. 

"  Please  do  what  you  think  best,"  was  all  that  he 
could  say.  Also,  when  several  miles  further  on,  they 
came  to  a  turn  in  the  road,  there,  panting  on  a  rock, 
stood  Juliette,  who  had  reached  the  place,  running 
at  full  speed,  by  a  short  cut  through  the  woods.  They 
had  no  time  to  stop,  because  the  Pasteur  thought  that 
they  were  late  for  the  train,  which,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  did  not  leave  for  half-an-hour  after  they  reached 
the  station.  So  they  could  only  make  mutual  signals 
of  recognition  and  farewell.  Juliette,  who  looked  as 


202  LOVE  ETERNAL 

though  she  were  crying,  kissed  her  hand  to  him,  call- 
ing out: 

"  Adieu,  adieu !  cher  ami,"  while  he  sought  refuge 
in  the  Englishman's  usual  expedient  of  taking  off 
his  hat. 

"  It  is  nothing,  nothing,"  said  the  Pasteur,  who  had 
also  noted  Juliette's  tear-swollen  eyes,  "  to-morrow 
she  will  have  Jules  to  console  her,  a  most  worthy  young 
man,  though  me  he  bores." 

Here,  it  may  be  added,  that  Jules  consoled  her  so 
well,  that  within  a  year  they  were  married,  and  most 
happily. 

Yet  Godfrey  was  destined  never  to  see  that  graceful 
figure  and  gay  little  face  again,  since  long  before  he 
revisited  Lucerne  Juliette  died  on  the  birth  of  her 
third  child.  And  soon,  who  thought  of  Juliette  except 
perhaps  Godfrey,  for  her  husband  married  again  very 
shortly,  as  a  worthy  and  domestic  person  of  the  sort 
would  do.  Her  children  were  too  young  to  remember 
her,  and  her  mother,  not  long  afterwards,  was  carried 
off  by  a  sudden  illness,  pneumonia,  to  join  her  in  the 
Shades.  Except  the  Pasteur  himself  none  was  left. 

Well,  such  is  the  way  of  this  sad  world  of  change 
and  death.  But  Godfrey  never  forgot  the  picture  of 
her  standing  breathless  on  the  rock  and  kissing  her 
slim  hand  to  him.  It  was  one  of  those  incidents 
which,  when  they  happen  to  a  man  in  his  youth,  re- 
main indelibly  impressed  upon  his  mind. 

At  the  station  there  were  more  farewells,  for  here 
was  the  notary,  who  had  managed  Miss  Ogilvy's  Swiss 
affairs  and  now,  under  the  direction  of  Monsieur 
Boiset,  attended  to  those  of  Godfrey.  Also  such  of 
the  servants  were  present  as  had  been  kept  on  at  the 


JULIETTE'S  FAREWELL  203 

Villa,  while  among  those  walking  about  the  platform 
he  saw  Brother  Josiah  Smith  and  Professor  Petersen, 
who  had  come  evidently  to  see  the  last  of  him,  and 
make  report  to  a  certain  quarter. 

The  Pasteur  talked  continually,  in  his  high,  thin 
voice,  to  cover  up  his  agitation,  but  what  it  was  all 
about  Godfrey  could  never  remember.  All  he  recol- 
lected of  the  parting  was  being  taken  into  those  long 
arms,  embraced  upon  the  forehead,  and  most  fer- 
vently blessed. 

Then  the  train  steamed  off,  and  he  felt  glad  that 
all  was  over. 


CHAPTER  XII 

HOME 

ABOUT  forty-eight  hours  later  Godfrey  arrived  duly 
at  the  little  Essex  station  three  miles  from  Monk's 
Acre.  There  was  nobody  to  meet  him,  which  was 
not  strange,  as  the  hour  of  his  coming  was  unknown. 
Still,  unreasonable  as  it  might  be,  the  contrast  be- 
tween the  warmth  and  affection  that  had  distinguished 
his  departure,  and  the  cold  vacuum  that  greeted  his 
arrival,  chilled  him.  He  said  a  few  words  to  the 
grumpy  old  porter  who  was  the  sole  occupant  of  the 
platform,  but  that  worthy,  although  he  knew  him 
well  enough,  did  not  seem  to  realise  that  he  had  ever 
been  away.  During  the  year  in  which  so  many  things 
had  happened  to  Godfrey  nothing  at  all  had  happened 
to  the  porter,  and  therefore  he  did  not  appreciate  the 
lapse  of  time. 

Leaving  his  luggage  to  be  brought  by  the  carrier's 
cart,  Godfrey  took  the  alpenstock  that,  in  a  moment 
of  enthusiasm,  the  guide  had  given  him  as  a  souvenir 
of  his  great  adventure,  and  started  for  home.  It  was 
a  very  famous  alpenstock,  which  this  guide  and  his 
father  before  him  had  used  all  their  lives,  one  that 
had  been  planted  in  the  topmost  snows  of  every  peak 
in  Switzerland.  Indeed  the  names  of  the  most  un- 
climbable  of  these,  together  with  the  dates  of  their 
conquest  by  its  owners,  sometimes  followed  by  crosses 
to  show  that  on  such  or  such  an  expedition  life  had 

204 


HOME  205 

been  lost,  were  burnt  into  the  tough  wood  with  a  hot 
iron.  As  the  first  of  these  dates  was  as  far  back  as 
1831,  Godfrey  valued  this  staff  highly,  and  did  not 
like  to  leave  it  to  the  chances  of  the  carrier's  cart. 

His  road  through  the  fields  ran  past  Hawk's  Hall, 
of  which  he  observed  with  a  thrill  of  dismay,  that 
the  blinds  were  drawn  as  though  in  it  someone  lay 
dead.  There  was  no  reason  why  he  should  have  been 
dismayed,  since  he  had  heard  that  Isobel  had  gone 
away  to  somewhere  in  "  Ameriky,"  as  Mrs.  Parsons 
had  expressed  it  in  a  brief  and  illspelt  letter,  and  that 
Sir  John  was  living  in  town.  Yet  the  sight  depressed 
him  still  further  with  its  suggestion  of  death,  or  of 
separation,  which  is  almost  as  bad,  for,  be  it  remem- 
bered, he  was  at  an  age  when  such  impressions  come 
home. 

After  leaving  the  Hall  with  its  blinded  and  shut- 
tered windows,  his  quickest  road  to  the  Abbey  House 
ran  through  the  churchyard.  Here  the  first  thing  that 
confronted  him  was  a  gigantic  monument,  of  which 
the  new  marble  glittered  in  the  afternoon  sun.  It 
was  a  confused  affair,  and  all  he  made  out  of  it, 
without  close  examination,  was  a  life-sized  angel  with 
an  early-Victorian  countenance,  leaning  against  the 
broken  stump  of  an  oak  tree  and  scattering  from  a 
basket,  of  the  kind  that  is  used  to  collect  nuts  or 
windfall  apples,  on  to  a  sarcophagus  beneath,  a  pro- 
fusion of  large  marble  roses,  some  of  which  seemed 
to  have  been  arrested  and  frozen  in  mid-air.  He 
glanced  at  the  inscription  in  gold  letters.  It  was : 
"  To  the  beloved  memory  of  Lady  Jane  Blake,  wife 
of  Sir  John  Blake,  Bart.,  J.P.,  and  daughter  of  the 
Right  Hon.  The  Earl  of  Lynfield,  whose  bereaved 


206  LOVE  ETERNAL 

husband  erected  this  monument. — '  Her  husband  .  .  . 
praiseth  her.' ' 

Godfrey  looked,  and  remembering  the  gentle  little 
woman  whose  crumbling  flesh  lay  beneath,  shivered 
at  the  awful  and  crushing  erection  above.  In  life, 
as  he  knew,  she  had  been  unhappy,  but  what  had  she 
done  to  deserve  such  a  memorial  in  death?  Still, 
she  was  dead,  of  that  there  was  no  doubt,  and  oh! 
the  sadness  of  it  all. 

He  went  on  to  the  Abbey,  resisting  a  queer  tempta- 
tion to  enter  the  church  and  look  at  the  tomb  of  the 
Plantagenet  lady  and  her  unknown  knight,  who  slept 
there  so  quietly  from  year  to  year,  through  spring, 
summer,  autumn  and  winter,  for  ever  and  for  ever. 
The  front  door  was  locked,  so  he  rang  the  bell.  It 
was  answered  by  a  new  servant,  rather  a  forbidding, 
middle-aged  woman  with  a  limp,  who  informed  him 
that  Mr.  Knight  was  out,  and  notwithstanding  his 
explanations,  declined  to  admit  him  into  the  house. 
Doubtless  she  thought  that  a  young  man,  wearing  a 
foreign-looking  hat  and  carrying  such  a  strange  long 
stick,  must  be  a  thief,  or  worse.  The  end  of  it  was 
that  she  slammed  the  door  in  his  face  and  shot  the 
old-fashioned  bolts. 

Then  Godfrey  bethought  him  of  the  other  door, 
that  which  led  into  the  ancient  refectory,  which  was 
now  used  as  a  schoolroom.  This  was  open,  so  he 
went  in  and,  being  tired  after  his  long  journey,  sat 
himself  down  in  the  chair  at  the  end  of  the  old  oak 
table,  that  same  chair  in  which  Isobel  had  kissed  him 
when  he  was  a  little  boy.  He  looked  about  him 
vaguely;  the  place,  of  course,  was  much  the  same  as 
it  had  been  for  the  last  five  hundred  years,  but,  as 


HOME  207 

he  could  see  from  the  names  on  the  copybooks  that 
lay  about,  the  pupils  who  inhabited  it  had  changed. 
Of  the  whole  six  not  one  was  the  same. 

Then,  perhaps  for  the  first  time,  he  began  to  under- 
stand how  variable  is  the  world,  a  mere  passing  show 
in  which  nothing  remains  the  same,  except  the  houses 
and  the  trees.  Even  these  depart,  for  a  cottage  with 
which  he  had  been  familiar  from  his  earliest  infancy, 
as  he  could  see  through  the  open  door,  was  pulled 
down  to  make  room  for  "  improvements,"  and  the 
great  old  elm,  where  the  rooks  used  to  build,  had  been 
torn  up  in  a  gale.  Only  its  ugly  stump  and  project- 
ing roots  were  left. 

So  he  sat  musing  there,  very  depressed  at  heart, 
till  at  length  Mrs.  Parsons  came  and  discovered  him 
in  a  half-doze.  She,  too,  was  somewhat  changed, 
for  of  a  sudden  age  had  begun  to  take  a  hold  of  her. 
Her  hair  was  white  now,  and  her  plump,  round  face 
had  withered  like  a  spring  apple.  Still,  she  greeted 
him  with  the  old  affection,  for  which  he  felt  grateful, 
seeing  that  it  was  the  first  touch  of  kindness  he  had 
known  since  he  set  foot  on  English  ground. 

"Dear  me,  Master  Godfrey!"  she  said,  "hadn't  I 
heard  that  you  were  coming,  I  could  never  have  been 
sure  that  it  was  you.  Why,  you've  grown  into  a 
regular  young  gentleman  in  those  foreign  parts,  and 
handsome,  too,  though  I  sez  it.  Who  could  have 
guessed  that  you  are  your  father's  son?  Why,  you'd 
make  two  of  him.  But  there,  they  say  that  your 
mother  was  a  good-looking  lady  and  large  built, 
though,  as  I  never  set  eyes  on  her,  I  can't  say  for  sure. 
Well,  you  must  be  tired  after  all  this  travelling  in 
steamships  and  trains,  so  come  into  the  dining-room 


208  LOVE  ETERNAL 

and  have  some  tea,  for  I  have  got  the  key  to  the 
sideboard." 

He  went,  and,  passing  through  the  hall,  left  his 
alpenstock  in  the  umbrella-stand.  In  due  course  the 
tea  was  produced,  though  for  it  he  seemed  to  have 
little  appetite.  While  he  made  pretence  to  eat  the 
thick  bread  and  butter,  Mrs.  Parsons  told  him  the 
news,  such  as  it  was.  Sir  John  was  living  in  town 
and  "  flinging  the  money  about,  so  it  was  said,  not  but 
what  he  had  got  lots  to  fling  and  plenty  to  catch  it," 
she  added  meaningly.  His  poor,  dear  lady  was  dead, 
and  "  happy  for  her  on  the  whole."  Miss  Isobel  had 
"  gone  foreign,"  having,  it  was  told,  quarrelled  with 
her  father,  and  nothing  had  been  heard  of  her  since 
she  went.  She,  too,  had  grown  into  a  fine  young  lady. 

That  was  all  he  gathered  before  Mrs.  Parsons  was 
obliged  to  depart  to  see  to  her  business — except  that 
she  was  exceedingly  glad  to  see  him.  • 

Godfrey  went  up  to  his  bedroom,  which  he  found 
unprepared,  for  somebody  else  seemed  to  be  sleeping 
there.  While  he  was  surveying  it  and  wondering  who 
this  occupant  might  be,  he  heard  his  father  in  the  hall 
asking  the  parlour-maid  which  of  the  young  gentle- 
men had  left  that  "  ridiculous  stick "  in  the  stand. 
She  replied  that  she  did  not  know,  whereupon  the 
hard  voice  of  his  parent  told  her  to  take  it  away. 
Afterwards  Godfrey  found  it  thrown  into  the  wood- 
house  to  be  chopped  up  for  firewood,  though  luckily 
before  this  happened. 

By  this  time  a  kind  of  anger  had  seized  him.  It 
was  true  that  he  had  not  said  by  what  train  he  was 
coming,  for  the  reason  that  until  he  reached  London 
he  could  not  tell,  but  he  had  written  that  he  was  to 


HOME  209 

arrive  that  afternoon,  and  surely  some  note  might 
have  been  taken  of  the  fact. 

He  went  downstairs  and  confronted  his  father,  who 
alone  amid  so  much  change  seemed  to  be  exactly  the 
same.  Mr.  Knight  shook  him  by  the  hand  without 
any  particular  cordiality,  and  at  once  attacked  him 
for  not  having  intimated  the  hour  of  his  arrival,  say- 
ing that  it  was  too  late  to  advise  the  carrier  to  call 
at  the  station  for  his  luggage  and  that  a  trap  would 
have  to  be  sent,  which  cost  money. 

"  Very  well,  Father,  I  will  pay  for  it  myself," 
answered  Godfrey. 

"  Oh,  yes,  I  forgot !  "  exclaimed  Mr.  Knight  with 
a  sneer,  "  you  have  come  into  money  somehow,  have 
you  not,  and  doubtless  consider  yourself  independ- 
ent?" 

"  Yes,  and  I  am  glad  of  it,  Father,  as  now  I  hope 
I  shall  not  be  any  more  expense  to  you." 

"  As  you  have  begun  to  talk  business,  Godfrey," 
replied  his  father  in  an  acid  manner,  "  we  may  as 
well  go  into  things  and  get  it  over.  You  have,  I  pre- 
sume, made  up  your  mind  to  go  into  the  Church  in 
accordance  with  my  wish  ?  " 

"  No,  Father ;  I  do  not  intend  to  become  a  clergy- 
man." 

"  Indeed.  You  seem  to  me  to  have  fallen  under 
very  bad  influences  in  Switzerland.  However,  it  does 
not  much  matter,  as  I  intend  that  you  shall." 

"  I  am  sorry,  but  I  cannot,  Father." 

Then,  within  such  limits  as  his  piety  permitted, 
which  were  sufficiently  wide,  Mr.  Knight  lost  his 
temper  very  badly  indeed.  He  attacked  his  son,  sug- 
gesting that  he  had  been  leading  an  evil  life  in 


210  LOVE  ETERNAL 

Lucerne,  as  he  had  learned  "  from  outside  sources," 
and  declared  that  either  he  should  obey  him  or  be 
cast  off.  Godfrey,  whose  temper  by  this  time  was  also 
rising,  intimated  that  he  preferred  the  latter  alterna- 
tive. 

"  What,  then,  do  you  intend  to  do,  young  man  ?  " 
asked  Mr.  Knight. 

"  I  do  not  know  yet,  Father."  Then  an  inspiration 
came  to  him,  and  he  added,  "  I  shall  go  to  London 
to-morrow  to  consult  my  trustees  under  Miss  Ogilvy's 
will." 

"  Really,"  said  Mr.  Knight  in  a  rage.  "  You  are 
after  that  ill-gotten  money,  are  you?  Well,  as  we 
seem  to  agree  so  badly,  why  not  go  to-night  instead 
of  to-morrow;  there  is  a  late  train?  Perhaps  it  would 
be  pleasanter  for  both  of  us,  and  then  I  need  not  send 
for  your  luggage.  Also  it  would  save  my  shifting 
the  new  boy  from  your  room." 

"  Do  you  really  mean  that,  Father  ?  " 

"  I  am  not  in  the  habit  of  saying  what  I  do  not 
mean.  Only  please  understand  that  if  you  reject  my 
plans  for  your  career,  which  have  been  formed  after 
much  thought,  and,  I  may  add,  prayer,  I  wash  my 
hands  of  you  who  are  now  too  old  to  be  argued  with 
in  any  other  way." 

Godfrey  looked  at  his  father  and  considered  the 
iron  mouth  cut  straight  like  a  slit  across  the  face,  the 
hard,  insignificant  countenance  and  the  small,  cold, 
grey  eyes.  He  realised  the  intensity  of  the  petty 
anger  based,  for  the  most  part,  on  jealousy  because 
he  was  now  independent  and  could  not  be  ordered 
about  and  bullied  like  the  rest  of  the  little  boys,  and 
knew  that  behind  it  there  was  not  affection,  but  dis- 


HOME  211 

like.  Summing  up  all  this  in  his  quick  mind,  he  be- 
came aware  that  father  or  not,  he  regarded  this  man 
with  great  aversion.  Their  natures,  their  outlook,  all 
about  them  were  antagonistic,  and,  in  fact,  had  been 
so  from  the  beginning.  The  less  that  they  saw  of 
each  other  the  better  it  would  be  for  both.  Although 
still  so  young,  he  had  ripened  early,  and  was  now 
almost  a  man  who  knew  that  these  things  were  so 
without  possibility  of  doubt. 

"  Very  well,  Father,"  he  said,  "  I  will  go.  It  is 
better  than  stopping  here  to  quarrel." 

"  I  thought  you  would,  now  that  your  friend, 
Isobel,  who  did  you  so  much  harm  with  her  bad  in- 
fluence, has  departed  to  Mexico,  where,  I  have  no 
doubt,  she  has  forgotten  all  about  you.  You  won't 
be  able  to  run  after  her  money  as  you  did  after  Miss 
Ogilvy's,"  replied  Mr.  Knight  with  another  sneer. 

"  You  insult  me,"  said  Godfrey.  "  It  is  a  lie  that 
I  ran  after  Miss  Ogilvy's  money,  and  I  will  never 
forgive  you  for  saying  such  a  thing  of  me  in  con- 
nection with  Isobel,"  and  turning  he  left  the  room. 

So  did  his  father,  for  Godfrey  heard  him  go  to  his 
study  and  lock  the  door,  doubtless  as  a  sign  and  a 
token. 

Then  Godfrey  sought  out  Mrs.  Parsons  and  told 
her  everything.  The  old  woman  was  much  disturbed, 
and  wept. 

"  I  have  been  thinking  of  late,  Master  Godfrey," 
she  said,  "  that  your  father's  heart  is  made  of  that 
kind  of  stone  which  Hell  is  paved  with,  only  with  the 
good  intentions  left  out — it's  that  hard.  Here  you 
are  come  back  as  fine  a  young  man  as  a  body  can 
wish  to  see,  of  whom  his  begetter  might  well  be  proud, 


212  LOVE  ETERNAL 

though,  for  the  matter  of  that,  there  is  precious  little 
of  him  in  you — and  he  shuts  the  door  in  your  face 
just  because  you  won't  be  a  parson  and  have  come 
into  fortune — that's  what  rankles.  I  say  that  your 
mother,  if  she  was  a  fool  when  she  married  him,  was 
a  wise  woman  when  she  died.  Parson  or  not,  he  will 
never  go  where  she  is.  Well,  it's  sad,  but  you'll  be 
well  out  of  this  cold  house,  where  there's  so  much 
praying  but  not  a  spark  of  love." 

"  I  think  so,"  said  Godfrey  with  a  sigh. 

"  I  think  so,  too,  for  myself,  I  mean.  But,  look 
here,  my  boy,  I  only  stopped  on  looking  after  this 
dratted  pack  of  young  gentlemen  because  you  were 
coming  home  again.  But,  as  you  ain't,  I'm  out  of 
it;  yes,  when  the  door  shuts  on  you  I  give  my  month's 
notice,  which  perhaps  will  mean  that  I  leave  to-mor- 
row, for  he  won't  be  able  to  abide  the  sight  of  me 
after  that." 

"  But  how  will  you  live,  Nurse,  till  I  can  help  you?  " 

"  Lord  bless  you,  dear,  that's  all  right.  I've  been 
a  careful  woman  all  my  life,  and  have  hard  on  £500 
put  away  in  the  Savings  Bank,  to  say  nothing  of  a 
bit  of  Stock.  Also,  my  old  brother,  who  was  a  builder, 
died  last  year  and  left  me  a  nice  little  house  down  in 
Hampstead,  which  he  built  to  live  in  himself,  but 
never  did,  poor  man,  bit  by  bit  when  he  was  short 
of  business,  very  comfortable  and  in  a  good  neigh- 
bourhood, with  first-rate  furniture  and  real  silver 
plate,  to  say  nothing  of  some  more  Stock,  yes,  for 
£  1,000  or  more.  I  let  it  furnished  by  the  month,  but 
the  tenant  is  going  away,  so  I  shall  just  move  into  it 
myself,  and  perhaps  take  in  a  lodger  or  two  to  keep  me 
from  being  idle." 


HOME  213 

"That's  capital!"  said  Godfrey,  delighted. 

"  Yes,  and  I  tell  you  what  would  be  capitaller. 
Mayhap  you  will  have  to  live  in  London  for  a  bit, 
and,  if  so,  you  are  just  the  kind  of  lodger  I  should 
like,  and  I  don't  think  we  should  quarrel  about  terms. 
I'll  write  you  down  the  address  of  that  house,  the 
Grove  as  it  is  called,  though  why,  I  don't  know,  see- 
ing there  isn't  a  tree  within  half  a  mile,  which  I  don't 
mind,  as  there  are  too  many  about  here,  making  so 
much  damp.  And  you'll  write  and  let  me  know  what 
you  are  going  to  do,  won't  you?  " 

"  Of  course  I  will." 

"  And  now,  look  here.  Likely  you  will  want  a 
little  money  till  you  square  up  things  with  your 
trustee  people  that  the  master  hates  so  much." 

"  Well,  I  had  forgotten  it,  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
I  have  only  ten  shillings  left,  and  that  isn't  much  when 
one  is  going  to  London,"  confessed  Godfrey. 

"  I  thought  so ;  you  never  were  one  to  think  much 
of  such  things,  and  so  it's  probable  that  you'll  get 
plenty  of  them,  for  it's  what  we  care  about  we  are 
starved  in,  just  to  make  it  hot  for  us  poor  humans. 
Take  your  father,  for  instance;  he  loves  power,  he 
does;  he'd  like  to  be  a  bishop  of  the  old  Roman  sort 
what  could  torture  people  who  didn't  agree  with  them. 
And  what  is  he?  The  parson  of  a  potty  parish  of  a 
couple  of  hundred  people,  counting  the  babies  and 
the  softies,  and  half  of  them  Dissenters  or  Salvation 
Army.  Moreover,  they  can't  be  bullied,  because  if 
they  were  they'd  just  walk  into  the  next  chapel  door. 
Of  course,  there's  the  young  gentlemen,  and  he  takes 
it  out  of  them,  but,  Lord  bless  us !  that's  like  kicking 
a  wool  sack,  of  which  any  man  of  spirit  soon  gets 


214  LOVE  ETERNAL 

tired.  So,  you  see,  he  is  sick-hearted,  and  will  be 
more  so  now  that  you  have  stood  up  to  him;  and,  in 
this  way  or  that,  it's  the  same  with  everyone,  none  of 
us  gets  what  we  want,  while  of  what  we  don't  want 
there's  always  plenty." 

While  the  old  lady  held  forth  thus  in  her  little 
room  which,  although  she  did  not  know  it,  had  once 
been  the  penitential  cell  of  the  Abbey,  wherein  for 
hundreds  of  years  many  unhappy  ones  had  reflected 
in  a  very  similar  vein,  she  was  engaged  in  trying  key 
after  key  upon  a  stout  oak  chest.  It  was  part  of  the 
ancient  furniture  of  the  place,  that  indeed  in  former 
days  had  served  as  the  receptacle  for  hair  shirts, 
scourges  and  other  physical  inducements  to  repentance 
and  piety. 

Now  it  had  a  different  purpose  and  held  Mrs.  Par- 
sons' best  dresses,  also,  in  a  bandbox,  an  ornament 
preserved  from  her  wedding-cake,  for  once  in  the  far 
past  she  was  married  to  a  sailor,  a  very  great  black- 
guard, who  came  to  his  end  by  tumbling  from  a  gang- 
way when  he  was  drunk.  Among  these  articles  was 
a  tin  tea-canister  which,  when  opened,  proved  to  be 
full  of  money;  gold,  silver  and  even  humble  copper,  to 
say  nothing  of  several  banknotes. 

"  Now,  there  you  are,  my  dear,  take  what  you 
like,"  she  said,  "  and  pay  it  back  if  you  wish,  but 
if  you  don't,  it  might  have  been  worse  spent."  And 
she  pushed  the  receptacle,  labelled  "  Imperial  Pekoe," 
towards  him  across  the  table,  adding,  "  Drat  those 
moths!  There's  another  on  my  best  silk." 

Godfrey  burst  out  laughing  and  enjoyed  that  laugh, 
for  it  was  his  first  happy  moment  since  his  return  to 
England. 


HOME  215 

"  Give  me  what  you  like,"  he  said. 

So  she  extracted  from  the  tea-tin  a  five-pound  note, 
four  sovereigns  and  a  pound's  worth  of  silver  and 
copper. 

"  There,"  she  said,  "  that  will  do  to  begin  with, 
for  too  much  money  in  the  pocket  is  a  temptation 
in  a  wicked  place  like  London,  where  there's  always 
someone  waiting  to  share  it.  If  it's  wanted  there's 
more  where  that  came  from,  and  you've  only  to  write 
and  say  so.  And  now  you  have  got  the  address  and 
you've  got  -the  cash,  and  if  you  want  to  catch  that 
last  train  it's  time  you  were  off.  If  I  took  the  same 
to-morrow  night,  why,  it  wouldn't  surprise  me, 
especially  as  I  want  to  hear  all  you've  been  a-doing 
in  those  foreign  parts,  tumbling  over  precipices  and 
the  rest.  So  good-bye,  my  dear,  and  God  bless  you. 
Lord!  it  seems  only  the  other  day  that  I  was  giving 
you  your  bottle." 

Then  they  kissed  each  other  and,  having  retrieved 
his  alpenstock  from  the  stick-house,  Godfrey  trudged 
back  to  the  station,  where  he  picked  up  his  luggage 
and  departed  for  London.  Arriving  at  Liverpool 
Street  rather  late,  he  went  to  the  Great  Eastern  Hotel, 
and  after  a  good  meal,  which  he  needed,  slept  like 
a  top.  His  reception  in  England  had  been  bitter,  but 
the  young  soon  shake  off  their  troubles,  from  which, 
indeed,  the  loving  kindness  of  his  dear  old  nurse 
already  had  extracted  the  sting. 

On  the  following  morning,  while  breakfasting  at 
a  little  table  by  one  of  the  pillars  of  the  big  dining- 
room,  he  began  to  wonder  what  he  should  do  next. 
In  his  pocket  he  had  a  notebook,  in  which,  at  the  sug- 
gestion of  the  Pasteur,  he  had  set  down  the  address 


216  LOVE  ETERNAL 

of  the  lawyers  who  had  written  to  him  about  his 
legacy.  It  was  in  a  place  called  the  Poultry,  which, 
on  inquiry  from  the  hall-porter,  he  discovered  was 
quite  close  by  the  Mansion  House. 

So  a  while  later,  for  the  porter  told  him  that  it 
was  no  use  to  go  to  see  lawyers  too  early,  he  sallied 
forth,  and  after  much  search  discovered  the  queer 
spot  called  the  Poultry,  also  the  offices  of  Messrs. 
Ranson,  Richards  and  Son.  Here  he  gave  his  name 
to  a  clerk,  who  thrust  a  very  oily  head  out  of  a  kind 
of  mahogany  box,  and  was  told  that  Mr.  .Ranson  was 
engaged,  but  that,  if  he  cared  to  wait,  perhaps  he 
would  see  him  later  on.  He  said  he  would  wait,  and 
was  shown  into  a  stuffy  little  room,  furnished  with 
ancient  deed-boxes  and  a  very  large,  old  leather- 
covered  sofa  that  took  up  half  the  place.  Here  he  sat 
for  a  while,  staring  at  a  square  of  dirty  glass  which 
gave  what  light  was  available,  and  reflecting  upon 
things  in  general. 

While  he  was  thus  engaged  he  heard  a  kind  of 
tumult  outside,  in  which  he  recognised  the  treble  of 
the  oily-headed  clerk  coming  in  a  bad  second  to  a 
deep,  bass  voice.  Then  the  door  opened  and  a  big, 
burly  man,  with  a  red  face  and  a  jovial,  rolling 
eye,  appeared  with  startling  suddenness  and  ejac- 
ulated : 

"  Damn  Ranson,  damn  Richards,  or  damn  them 
both,  with  the  Son  thrown  in!  I  ask  you,  young 
man  " — here  he  addressed  Godfrey  seated  on  the  cor- 
ner of  the  sofa — "  what  is  the  use  of  a  firm  of  lawyers 
whom  you  can  never  see?  You  pay  the  brutes,  but 
three  times  out  of  four  they  are  not  visible,  or,  as  I 
suspect,  pretend  not  to  be,  in  order  to  enhance  their 


HOME  217 

own  importance.  And  I  sent  them  a  telegram,  too, 
having  a  train  to  catch.  What  do  you  think?" 

"  I  don't  know,  Sir,"  Godfrey  answered.  "  I  never 
came  to  a  lawyer's  office  before,  and  I  hope  I  shan't 
again  if  this  is  the  kind  of  room  they  put  one 
into." 

"  Room !  "  ejaculated  the  irate  gentleman,  "  call  it 
a  dog  kennel,  call  it  a  cesspool,  for,  by  heaven,  it 
smells  like  one,  but  in  the  interests  of  truth,  young 
man,  don't  call  it  a  room." 

"  Now  that  you  mention  it,  there  is  a  queer  odour. 
Perhaps  a  dead  rat  under  the  floor,"  suggested  God- 
frey. 

"  Twenty  dead  rats  probably,  since  I  imagine  that 
this  hole  has  not  been  cleaned  since  the  time  of  George 
II.  We  are  martyrs  in  this  world,  Sir.  I  come  here 
to  attend  to  the  affairs  of  some  whippersnapper  whom 
I  never  saw  and  never  want  to  see,  just  because  Helen 
Ogilvy,  who  was  my  first  cousin,  chooses  to  make  me 
a  trustee  of  her  confounded  will,  in  which  she  leaves 
money  to  the  confounded  whippersnapper,  God  knows 
why.  This  whippersnapper  has  a  father,  a  parson, 
who  can  write  the  most  offensive  letters  imaginable. 
I  received  one  of  them  this  morning,  accusing  the 
whippersnapper  of  all  sorts  of  vague  things,  and  me 
and  my  fellow  trustee,  who  is  at  present  enjoying 
himself  travelling,  of  abetting  him.  I  repeat,  damn 
Ranson,  Richards  and  Son;  damn  the  parson,  damn 
Helen — no,  I  won't  say  that,  for  she  is  dead — and 
especially  damn  the  whippersnapper.  Don't  you  agree 
with  me?  " 

"  Not  quite,  Sir,"  said  Godfrey.  "  I  don't  mind 
about  Ranson,  Richards  and  Son,  or  anybody  else, 


218  LOVE  ETERNAL 

but  I  don't  quite  see  why  you  should  damn  me,  who, 
I  am  sure,  never  wished  to  give  you  any  trouble." 

"You!     And  who  the  Hades  may  you  be?" 

"  I  am  Godfrey  Knight,  and  I  suppose  that  you  are 
my  trustee,  or  one  of  them." 

"  Godfrey  Knight,  the  young  man  whose  father 
gives  us  so  much  trouble,  all  at  our  own  expense, 
I  may  remark.  Well,  after  hearing  so  much  of  you 
on  paper,  I'm  deuced  glad  to  meet  you  in  the  flesh. 
Come  into  the  light,  if  you  can  call  it  light,  and  let 
me  have  a  look  at  you." 

Godfrey  stepped  beneath  the  dirty  pane  and  was 
contemplated  through  an  eyeglass  by  this  breezy  old 
gentleman,  who  exclaimed  presently: 

"  You're  all  right,  I  think;  a  fine  figure  of  a  young 
man,  not  bad  looking,  either,  but  you  want  drilling. 
Why  the  devil  don't  you  go  into  the  army  ?  " 

"  I  don't  know,"  answered  Godfrey,  "  never  thought 
of  it.  Are  you  in  the  army,  Sir?  " 

"  No,  not  now,  though  I  was.  Commanded  my 
regiment  for  five  years,  and  then  kicked  out  with  the 
courtesy  title  of  Major-General.  Cubitte  is  my  name, 
spelt  with  two  '  t's '  and  an  '  e,'  please,  and  don't  you 
forget  that,  since  that  '  e '  has  been  a  point  of 
honour  with  our  family  for  a  hundred  years,  the 
Lord  knows  why.  Well,  there  we  are.  Do  you 
smoke  ?  " 

"  Only  a  pipe,"  said  Godfrey. 

"  That's  right ;  I  hate  those  accursed  cigarettes,  still 
they  are  better  than  nothing.  Now  sit  down  and  tell 
me  all  about  yourself." 

Godfrey  obeyed,  and  somehow  feeling  at  ease  with 
this  choleric  old  General,  in  the  course  of  the  next 


HOME  219 

twenty  minutes  explained  many  things  to  him,  in- 
cluding the  cause  of  his  appearance  in  that  office. 

"  So  you  don't  want  to  be  a  parson,"  said  the  Gen- 
eral, "  and  with  your  father's  example  before  your 
eyes,  I  am  sure  I  don't  wonder.  However,  you  are 
independent  of  him  more  or  less,  and  had  better  cut 
out  a  line  for  yourself.  We  will  back  you.  What 
do  you  say  to  the  army?" 

"  I  think  I  should  rather  like  that,"  answered  God- 
frey. "  Only,  only,  I  want  to  get  out  of  England  as 
soon  as  possible." 

"  And  quite  right,  too — accursed  hole,  full  of  fog 
and  politicians.  But  that's  not  difficult  with  India 
waiting  for  you.  I'm  an  Indian  cavalry  officer  my- 
self, and  could  put  you  up  to  the  ropes  and  give  you 
a  hand  afterwards,  perhaps,  if  you  show  yourself  of 
the  right  stuff,  as  I  think  you  will.  But,  of  course, 
you  will  have  to  go  to  Sandhurst,  pass  an  entrance 
examination,  and  so  forth.  Can  you  manage  that  ?  " 

"  Yes,  Sir,  I  think  so,  with  a  little  preparation.  I 
know  a  good  deal  of  one  sort  or  another,  including 
French." 

"  All  right,  three  months'  cramming  at  Scoones' 
or  Wren's,  will  do  the  trick.  And  now  I  suppose  you 
want  some  money  ?  " 

Godfrey  explained  that  he  did,  having  only  £10 
which  he  had  borrowed  from  his  old  nurse. 

Just  then  the  oily-headed  clerk  announced  that  Mr. 
Ranson  was  at  liberty.  So  they  both  went  in  to  see 
him,  and  the  rest  may  be  imagined.  The  trustees  un- 
dertook to  pay  his  expenses,  even  if  they  had  to  stretch 
a  point  to  do  so,  and  gave  him  £20  to  go  on  with, 
also  a  letter  of  introduction  to  Scoones,  whom  he  was 


220  LOVE  ETERNAL 

instructed  to  see  and  arrange  to  join  their  classes. 
Then  General  Cubitte  hustled  off,  telling  him  to  come 
to  dine  at  an  address  in  Kensington  two  nights  later 
and  "report  himself." 

So  within  less  than  an  hour  Godfrey's  future  career 
was  settled.  He  came  out  of  the  office  feeling  rather 
dazed  but  happier  than  when  he  went  in,  and  inquired 
his  way  to  Garrick  Street,  where  he  was  informed 
that  Mr.  Scoones  had  his  establishment.  He  found 
the  place  and,  by  good  luck,  found  Mr.  Scoones  also, 
a  kindly,  keen,  white-haired  man,  who  read  the  letter, 
made  a  few  inquiries  and  put  him  through  a  brief 
examination. 

"  Your  information  is  varied  and  peculiar,"  he  said, 
"  and  not  of  the  sort  that  greatly  appeals  to  Her 
Majesty's  examiners.  Still,  I  see  that  you  have  in- 
telligence and,  of  course,  the  French  is  an  asset;  also 
the  literature  to  some  extent,  and  the  Latin,  though 
these  would  have  counted  more  had  you  been  going 
up  for  the  Indian  Civil.  I  think  we  can  get  you 
through  in  three  months  if  you  will  work;  it  all  de- 
pends on  that.  You  will  find  a  lot  of  young  men  here 
of  whom  quite  seventy  per  cent,  do  nothing,  except 
see  life.  Very  nice  fellows  in  their  way,  but  if  you 
want  to  get  into  Sandhurst,  keep  clear  of  them.  Now, 
my  term  opens  next  Monday.  I  will  write  to  General 
Cubitte  and  tell  him  what  I  think  of  you,  also  that 
the  fees  are  payable  in  advance.  Good-bye,  glad  you 
happened  to  catch  me,  which  you  would  not  have  done 
half  an  hour  later,  as  I  am  going  out  of  town.  At  ten 
o'clock  next  Monday,  please." 

After  this,  not  knowing  what  to  do,  Godfrey  re- 
turned to  the  Great  Eastern  Hotel  and  wrote  a  letter 


HOME  221 

to  his  father,  in  which,  baldly  enough,  he  explained 
what  had  happened. 

Having  posted  it  in  the  box  in  the  hall,  he  bethought 
him  that  he  must  find  some  place  to  live  in,  as  the 
hotel  was  too  expensive  for  a  permanence,  and  was 
making  inquiries  of  the  porter  as  to  how  he  should 
set  about  the  matter  when  a  telegram  was  handed  to 
him.  It  ran :  "  All  up  as  I  expected.  Meet  me  Liver- 
pool Street  4.30. — NURSE." 

So  Godfrey  postponed  his  search  for  lodgings,  and 
at  the  appointed  hour  kept  the  assignation  on  the  plat- 
form. The  train  arrived,  and  out  of  it,  looking  much 
more  like  her  old  self  than  she  had  on  the  previous 
day,  emerged  Mrs.  Parsons  with  the  most  extraordi- 
nary collection  of  bundles,  he  counted  nine  of  them, 
to  say  nothing  of  a  jackdaw  in  a  cage.  She  embraced 
him  with  enthusiasm,  dropping  the  heaviest  of  the 
parcels,  which  seemed  to  contain  bricks,  upon  his  toe, 
and  in  a  flood  of  language  told  him  of  the  peculiar 
awfulness  of  the  row  between  his  father  and  herself 
which  had  ensued  upon  his  departure. 

"  Yes,"  she  ended,  "  he  flung  my  money  at  my  head 
and  I  flung  it  back  at  his,  though  afterwards  I  picked 
it  up  again,  for  it  is  no  use  wasting  good  gold  and 
silver.  And  so  here  I  am,  beginning  life  again,  like 
you,  and  feeling  thirty  years  younger  for  it.  Now, 
tell  me  what  you  are  going  to  do  ?  " 

Then  they  went  and  had  tea  in  the  refreshment 
room,  leaving  the  jackdaw  and  the  other  impediments 
in  charge  of  a  porter,  and  he  told  her. 

"  That's  first-rate,"  she  said.  "  I  always  hated  the 
idea  of  seeing  you  with  a  black  coat  on  your  back. 
The  Queen's  uniform  looks  much  better,  and  I  want 


222  LOVE  ETERNAL 

you  to  be  a  man.  Now  you  help  me  into  a  cab  and 
by  dinner  time  to-morrow  I'll  be  ready  for  you  at 
my  house  at  Hampstead,  if  I  have  to  work  all  night 
to  do  it.  Terms — drat  the  terms.  Well,  if  you  must 
have  them,  Master  Godfrey,  ten  shillings  a  week  will 
be  more  than  you  will  cost  me,  and  I  ought  to  give 
you  five  back  for  your  company.  Now  I'll  make  a 
start,  for  there  will  be  a  lot  to  do  before  the  place 
is  fit  for  a  young  gentleman.  I've  never  seen  it  but 
twice,  you  know." 

So  she  departed,  packed  into  a  four-wheeled  cab, 
with  the  jackdaw  on  her  lap,  and  Godfrey  went  to 
Madame  Tussaud's,  where  he  studied  the  guillotine 
and  the  Chamber  of  Horrors. 

On  the  following  morning,  having  further  improved 
his  mind  at  the  Tower,  he  took  a  cab  also,  and  in  due 
course  arrived  at  Hampstead  with  his  belongings.  The 
place  took  some  finding,  for  it  was  on  the  top  of  a  hill 
in  an  old-fashioned,  out  of  the  way  part  of  the  suburb, 
but  when  found  proved  to  be  delightful.  It  was  a 
little  square  house,  built  of  stone,  on  which  the  old 
builder  had  lavished  all  his  skill  and  care,  so  that  in  it 
everything  was  perfect,  with  a  garden  both  in  front 
and  behind.  The  floors  were  laid  in  oak,  the  little 
hall  was  oak-panelled,  there  were  hot  and  cold  water 
in  every  room,  and  so  forth.  Moreover,  an  odd  man 
was  waiting  to  carry  in  his  things,  and  in  one  of  the 
front  sitting-rooms,  which  was  excellently  furnished, 
sat  Mrs.  Parsons  knitting  as  though  she  had  been 
there  for  years. 

"  Here  you  are,"  she  said,  "  just  as  I  was  beginning 
to  get  tired  of  having  nothing  to  do.  Lord!  what  a 
fuss  we  make  about  things  before  we  face  'em.  After 


HOME  223 

all  they  ain't  nothing  but  bubbles.  Blow  them  and 
they  burst.  Look  here,  Master  Godfrey,"  and  she 
waved  her  hand  about  the  sitting-room.  "  Pretty 
neat,  ain't  it?  Well,  I  thought  it  would  be  all  of  a 
hugger-mugger.  But  what  did  I  find?  That  those 
tenants  had  been  jewels  and  left  everything  like  a 
new  pin,  to  say  nothing  of  improvements,  such  as 
an  Eagle  range.  Moreover,  the  caretaker  is  a  police- 
man's wife  and  a  very  nice  woman  always  ready  to 
help  for  a  trifle,  and  that  man  that  brought  in  your 
boxes  is  a  relative  of  hers  who  does  gardening  jobs 
and  such-like.  Now,  come  and  see  your  rooms,"  and 
she  led  him  with  pride  into  a  capital  back  apartment 
with  a  large  window,  in  fact  an  old  Tudor  one  which 
the  builder  had  procured  somewhere,  together  with 
the  panelling  on  the  walls. 

"  That's  your  study,"  she  said,  "  bookshelves  and 
all  complete.  Now,  follow  me,"  and  she  took  him 
upstairs  to  a  really  charming  bedroom. 

"  But,"  said  Godfrey,  surveying  these  splendours, 
"  this  must  be  the  best  room  in  the  house.  Where  do 
you  sleep  ?  " 

"  Oh !  at  the  back  there,  my  dear.  You  see,  I  am 
accustomed  to  a  small  chamber  and  shouldn't  be  happy 
in  this  big  one.  Besides,  you  are  going  to  pay  me 
rent  and  must  be  accommodated.  And  now  come 
down  to  your  dinner." 

A  very  good  dinner  it  was,  cooked  by  the  police- 
man's wife,  which  Mrs.  Parsons  insisted  on  serving, 
as  she  would  not  sit  at  the  table  with  him.  In  short, 
Godfrey  found  himself  in  clover,  a  circumstance  that 
filled  him  with  some  sadness.  Why,  he  wondered, 
should  he  always  be  made  so  miserable  at  home  and 


224  LOVE  ETERNAL 

so  happy  when  he  was  away?  Then  he  remembered 
that  famous  line  about  the  man  who  throughout  life 
ever  found  his  warmest  welcome  at  an  inn,  and  per- 
ceived that  it  hid  much  philosophy.  Frequently 
enough  homes  are  not  what  fond  fancy  paints  them, 
while  in  the  bosom  of  strangers  there  is  much  kind- 
liness. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE  INTERVENING  YEARS 

Now  we  may  omit  a  great  deal  from  Godfrey's  youth- 
ful career.  Within  a  few  days  he  received  a  letter 
from  his  father  forwarded  to  him  from  the  hotel,  that 
was  even  more  unpleasant  than  the  majority  of  the 
paternal  epistles  to  which  he  was  accustomed.  Mr. 
Knight,  probably  from  honest  conviction  and  a  mis- 
reading of  the  facts  of  life,  was  one  of  those  persons 
who  are  called  Pacifists.  Although  he  never  carried 
out  the  doctrine  in  his  own  small  affairs,  he  believed 
that  nations  were  enjoined  by  divine  decree  to  turn 
the  other  cheek  and  indeed  every  portion  of  their 
corporate  frame  to  the  smiter,  and  that  by  so  doing, 
in  some  mysterious  way,  they  would  attain  to  profound 
peace  and  felicity.  Consequently  he  hated  armies, 
especially  as  these  involved  taxation,  and  loathed  the 
trade  of  soldiering,  which  he  considered  one  of 
licensed  murder. 

The  decision  of  his  son  to  adopt  this  career  was 
therefore  a  bitter  blow  to  him,  concerning  which  he 
expressed  his  feelings  in  the  plainest  language,  ending 
his  epistle  by  intimating  his  strong  conviction  that 
Godfrey,  having  taken  the  sword,  was  destined  to 
perish  by  the  sword.  Also  he  pointed  out  to  him  that 
he  had  turned  his  back  upon  God  Who  would  certainly 
remember  the  affront,  being,  he  remarked,  "  a  jealous 
God,"  and  lastly  that  the  less  they  saw  of  each  other 

225 


226  LOVE  ETERNAL 

in  future — here  he  was  referring  to  himself,  not  to  the 
Divinity  as  the  context  would  seem  to  imply — the 
better  it  would  for  both  of  them. 

Further  there  was  a  postscript  about  the  disgraceful 
conduct  of  the  woman,  Mrs.  Parsons,  who,  after  re- 
ceiving the  shelter  of  his  house  for  many  years,  had 
made  a  scene  and  departed,  leaving  him  in  the  lurch. 
His  injunction  was  that  under  no  circumstances  should 
he,  Godfrey,  have  anything  more  to  do  with  this  vio- 
lent and  treacherous  female  who  had  made  him  a 
pretext  of  quarrel,  and,  having  learned  that  he  had 
money,  doubtless  wished  to  get  something  out  of  him. 

Godfrey  did  not  answer  this  letter,  nor  did  his 
father  write  to  him  again  for  quite  a  long  while. 

For  the  rest,  on  the  appointed  Monday  he  presented 
himself  at  Garrick  Street,  and  began  his  course  of 
tuition  under  the  general  direction  of  the  wise  Mr. 
Scoones,  "  cramming  "  as  it  was  called.  This,  indeed, 
exactly  describes  the  process,  for  all  knowledge  was 
rejected  except  that  which  was  likely  to  obtain  marks 
in  the  course  of  an  examination  by  hide-bound  persons 
appointed  to  ascertain  who  were  the  individuals  best 
fitted  to  be  appointed  to  various  branches  of  the  Public 
Service.  Anything  less  calculated  to  secure  the  selec- 
tion of  suitable  men  than  such  a  system  cannot  well 
be  imagined.  However,  it  was  that  which  certain 
nebulous  authorities  had  decreed  should  prevail,  and 
there  was  an  end  of  it,  although  in  effect  it  involved, 
and  still  involves,  the  frequent  sacrifice  of  those  qual- 
ities and  characteristics  which  are  essential  to  a  public 
servant,  to  others  that  are  quite  the  reverse.  For 
instance,  to  a  parrot-like  memory  and  the  power  of 
acquiring  a  superficial  acquaintance  with  much  mis- 


THE  INTERVENING  YEARS  227 

cellaneous  information  and  remembering  the  same  for, 
say,  six  months. 

Although  he  hated  the  business  and  thought  with 
longing  of  his  studies,  stellar  and  other,  in  the  Klein- 
dor  f  observatory,  Godfrey  was  quite  clever  enough 
to  collect  what  was  needed.  In  fact,  some  three 
months  later  he  passed  his  examination  with  ease  about 
half-way  up  the  list,  and  duly  entered  Sandhurst. 

He  found  the  establishment  at  Garrick  Street  just 
such  a  place  as  its  owner  had  described.  In  it  were 
many  charming  but  idle  young  men,  often  with  a 
certain  amount  of  means,  who  were  going  up  for  the 
Diplomatic  Service,  the  Foreign  Office,  the  Indian 
Civil,  or  various  branches  of  the  army.  Of  these 
a  large  proportion  enjoyed  life  but  did  little  else,  and 
in  due  course  failed  in  their  competitive  encounters 
with  the  examiners. 

Others  were  too  stupid  to  succeed,  or  perhaps  their 
natural  talents  had  another  bent,  while  the  remainder, 
by  no  means  the  most  brilliant,  but  with  a  faculty 
for  passing  examinations  and  without  any  disturbing 
originality,  worked  hard  and  sailed  into  their  desired 
haven  with  considerable  facility,  being  of  the  stuff  of 
which  most  successful  men  are  made.  For  the  rest, 
there  was  the  opportunity,  and  if  they  did  not  avail 
themselves  of  it  Scoones'  was  not  to  blame.  It  was, 
and  perhaps  still  remains,  a  most  admirable  institution 
of  its  sort,  one,  indeed,  of  which  the  present  chronicler 
has  very  grateful  recollections. 

Among  the  pupils  studying  there  was  a  young  man 
named  Arthur  Thorburn,  an  orphan,  with  considerable 
expectations,  who  lived  with  an  aunt  in  a  fine  old 
house  at  Queen  Anne's  Gate.  He  was  a  brilliant 


228  LOVE  ETERNAL 

young  man,  witty  and  original,  but  rash  and  without 
perseverance,  whom  his  guardians  wished  to  enter  the 
Diplomatic  Service,  a  career  in  which,  without  doubt, 
had  he  ever  attained  to  it,  he  would  have  achieved 
a  considerable  failure.  In  appearance  he  was  of  me- 
dium height,  round-faced,  light-haired,  blue-eyed,  with 
a  constant  and  most  charming  smile,  in  every  way 
a  complete  contrast  to  Godfrey.  Perhaps  this  was 
the  reason  of  the  curious  attachment  that  the  two 
formed  for  each  other,  unless,  indeed,  such  strong  and 
strange  affinities  have  their  roots  in  past  individual 
history,  which  is  veiled  from  mortal  eyes.  At  any 
rate,  it  happened  that  on  Godfrey's  first  day  at 
Scoones'  he  sat  next  to  Arthur  Thorburn  in  two 
classes  which  he  attended.  Godfrey  listened  intently 
and  made  notes;  Arthur  caricatured  the  lecturer,  an 
art  for  which  he  had  a  native  gift,  and  passed  the 
results  round  the  class.  Godfrey  saw  the  caricature 
and  sniggered,  then  when  the  lectures  were  over 
gravely  reproved  the  author,  saying  that  he  should 
not  do  such  things. 

"Why  not?  "  asked  Arthur,  opening  his  blue  eyes. 
"  Heaven  intended  that  stuffy  old  parrot "  (he  had 
drawn  this  learned  man  as  a  dilapidated  fowl  of  that 
species)  "to  be  caricatured.  Observe  that  his  nose 
is  already  half  a  beak.  Or  perhaps  it  is  a  beak  de- 
veloping into  a  nose;  it  depends  whether  he  is  on  the 
downward  or  upward  path  of  evolution." 

"  Because  you  made  me  laugh,"  replied  Godfrey, 
"  whereby  I  lost  at  least  eighteenpennyworth  of  in- 
formation." 

"  A  laugh  is  worth  eighteenpence,"  suggested 
Arthur. 


THE  INTERVENING  YEARS  229 

"  That  depends  upon  how  many  eighteenpences  one 
possesses.  You  may  have  lots,  some  people  are  short 
of  them." 

"  Quite  true.  I  never  looked  at  it  in  that  way  be- 
fore. I  am  obliged  to  you  for  putting  it  so  plainly," 
said  Arthur  with  his  charming  smile. 

Such  was  the  beginning  of  the  acquaintance  of 
these  two,  and  in  some  cases  might  have  been  its  end. 
But  with  them  it  was  not  so.  Arthur  conceived  a 
sincere  admiration  for  Godfrey  who  could  speak  like 
this  to  a  stranger,  and  at  Scoones'  and  as  much  as 
possible  outside,  haunted  him  like  a  shadow.  Soon  it 
was  a  regular  thing  for  Godfrey  to  go  to  dine  at  the 
old  Georgian  house  in  Queen  Anne's  Gate  upon  Sun- 
day evenings,  where  he  became  popular  with  the  rather 
magnificent  early-Victorian  aunt  who  thought  that  he 
exercised  a  good  influence  upon  her  nephew.  Some- 
times, too,  Arthur  would  accompany  Godfrey  to 
Hampstead  and  sit  smoking  and  making  furtive  cari- 
catures of  him  and  Mrs.  Parsons,  while  he  worked 
and  she  beamed  admiration.  The  occupation  sounds 
dull,  but  somehow  Arthur  did  not  find  it  so;  he  said 
that  it  rested  his  overwrought  brain. 

"  Look  here,  old  fellow,"  said  Godfrey  at  length, 
"  have  you  any  intention  of  passing  that  examination 
of  yours?  " 

"  In  the  interests  of  the  Diplomatic  Service  and 
of  the  country  I  think  not,"  replied  Arthur  reflect- 
ively. "  I  feel  that  it  is  a  case  where  true  altruism 
becomes  a  duty." 

"Then  what  do  you  mean  to  do  with  yourself?  " 

"  Don't  know.  Live  on  my  money,  I  suppose,  and 
on  that  of  my  respected  aunt  after  her  lamented  de- 


230  LOVE  ETERNAL 

cease  which,  although  I  see  no  signs  of  it,  she  tells 
me  she  considers  imminent." 

"  I  don't  wonder,  Arthur,  with  you  hanging  about 
the  house.  You  ought  to  be  ashamed  of  yourself.  A 
man  is  made  to  work  his  way  through  the  world,  not 
to  idle." 

"  Like  a  beetle  boring  through  wood,  not  like  a 
butterfly  flitting  over  flowers;  that's  what  you  mean, 
isn't  it?  Well,  butterflies  are  nicer  than  beetles,  and 
some  of  us  like  flowers  better  than  dead  wood.  But, 
I  say,  old  chap,  do  you  mean  it?  " 

"  I  do,  and  so  does  your  aunt." 

"  Let  us  waive  my  aunt.  Like  the  poor  she  is 
always  with  us,  and  I,  alas!  am  well  acquainted  with 
her  views,  which  are  those  of  a  past  epoch.  But  I 
am  not  obstinate;  tell  me  what  to  do  and  I'll  do  it — 
anything  except  enter  the  Diplomatic  Service,  to  lie 
abroad  for  the  benefit  of  my  country,  in  the  words 
of  the  ancient  saying." 

"  There  is  no  fear  of  that,  for  you  would  never 
pass  the  examination,"  said  the  practical  Godfrey. 
"  You  see,  you  are  too  clever,"  he  added  by  way  of 
explanation,  "  and  too  much  occupied  with  a  dozen 
things  of  which  examiners  take  no  count,  the  merits 
of  the  various  religious  systems,  for  instance." 

"  So  are  you,"  interrupted  Arthur. 

"  I  know  I  am ;  I  love  them.  I'd  like  to  talk  to  you 
about  reincarnation  and  astronomy,  of  which  I  know 
something,  and  even  astrology  and  the  survival  of 
the  dead  and  lots  of  other  things.  But  I  have  got  to 
make  my  way  in  the  world,  and  I've  no  time.  You 
think  me  a  heavy  bore  and  an  old  fogey  because  I 
won't  go  to  parties  to  which  lots  of  those  nice  fellows 


THE  INTERVENING  YEARS  231 

ask  me.  Do  you  suppose  I  shouldn't  like  the  parties 
and  all  the  larks  afterwards  and  the  jolly  actresses 
and  the. rest?  Of  course  I  should,  for  I'm  a  man  like 
others.  But  I  tell  you  I  haven't  time.  I've  flouted 
my  father,  and  I'm  on  my  honour,  so  to  speak,  to 
justify  myself  and  get  on.  So  I  mean  to  pass  that 
tomfool  examination  and  to  cram  down  a  lot  of  stuff 
in  order  to  do  so,  which  is  of  no  more  use  to  me  than 
though  I  had  swallowed  so  much  brown  paper.  Fool- 
stuff,  pulped  by  fools  to  be  the  food  of  fools — that's 
what  it  is.  And  now  I'm  going  to  shove  some  spoon- 
fuls of  it  down  my  throat,  so  light  your  pipe,  and 
please  be  quiet." 

"  One  moment  more  of  your  precious  time,"  inter- 
rupted Arthur.  "  What  is  the  exact  career  that  you 
propose  to  adorn?  Something  foreign,  I  think — 
Indian  Civil  Service?" 

"  No,  as  I  have  told  you  a  dozen  times,  Indian 
Army." 

"  The  army  has  points — possibly  in  the  future  it 
might  give  a  man  an  opportunity  of  departing  from 
the  world  in  a  fashion  that  is  generally,  if  in  error, 
considered  to  be  decent.  India,  too,  has  still  more 
points,  for  there  anyone  with  intelligence  might  study 
the  beginnings  of  civilisation,  which,  perhaps,  are  also 
its  end.  My  friend,  I,  too,  will  enter  the  Indian 
Army,  that  is  if  I  can  pass  the  examination.  Provide 
me  at  once  with  the  necessary  books  and,  Mrs.  Par- 
sons, be  good-hearted  enough  -to  bring  some  of  your 
excellent  coffee,  brewed  double  strong.  Do  not  im- 
agine, young  man,  who  ought,  by  the  way,  to  have 
been  born  fifty  years  earlier  and  married  my  aunt, 
that  you  are  the  only  one  who  can  face  and  conquer 


232  LOVE  ETERNAL 

facts,  even  those  advanced  by  that  most  accursed  of 
empty-headed  bores,  the  man  or  the  maniac  called 
Euclid." 

So  the  pair  of  them  studied  together,  and  by  dint 
of  private  tuition  in  the  evening,  for  at  Scoones'  where 
his  talent  for  caricature  was  too  much  for  him,  Arthur 
would  do  little  or  nothing,  Godfrey  dragged  his  friend 
through  the  examination,  the  last  but  one  in  the  list. 
Even  then  a  miracle  intervened  to  save  him.  Arthur's 
Euclid  was  hopeless.  He  hated  the  whole  business 
of  squares  and  angles  and  parallelograms  with  such 
intensity  that  it  made  him  mentally  and  morally  sick. 
To  his,  as  to  some  other  minds,  it  was  utter  nonsense 
devised  by  a  semi-lunatic  for  the  bewilderment  of 
mankind,  and  adopted  by  other  lunatics  as  an  appro- 
priate form  of  torture  of  the  young. 

At  length,  in  despair,  Godfrey,  knowing  that  Arthur 
had  an  excellent  memory,  only  the  night  before  the 
examination,  made  him  learn  a  couple  of  propositions 
selected  out  of  the  books  which  were  to  be  studied, 
quite  at  hazard,  with  injunctions  that  no  matter  what 
other  propositions  were  set  he  should  write  out  these 
two,  pretending  that  he  had  mistaken  the  question. 
This  Arthur  did  with  perfect  accuracy,  and  by  the 
greatest  of  good  luck  one  of  the  two  propositions  was 
actually  that  which  he  was  asked  to  set  down,  while 
the  other  was  allowed  to  pass  as  an  error. 

So  he  bumped  through  somehow,  and  in  the  end 
the  Indian  Army  gained  a  most  excellent  officer.  It 
is  true  that  there  were  difficulties  when  he  explained 
to  his  aunt  and  his  trustees  that  in  some  inexplicable 
manner  he  had  passed  for  Sandhurst  instead  of  into 
the  Diplomatic  Service.  But  when  he  demonstrated 


THE  INTERVENING  YEARS  233 

to  them  that  this  was  his  great  and  final  effort  and 
that  nothing  on  earth  would  induce  him  to  face  an- 
other examination,  even  to  be  made  a  king,  they 
thought  it  best  to  accept  the  accomplished  fact. 

"  After  all,  you  have  passed  something,"  said  his 
aunt,  "  which  is  more  than  anyone  ever  expected  you 
would  do,  and  the  army  is  respectable,  for,  as  I  have 
told  you,  my  grandfather  was  killed  at  Waterloo." 

"  Yes,"  replied  Arthur,  "  you  have  told  me,  my 
dear  Aunt,  very  often.  He  broke  his  neck  by  jumping 
off  his  horse  when  riding  towards  or  from  the  battle- 
field, did  he  not?  and  now  I  propose  to  follow  his 
honoured  example,  on  the  battlefield,  if  possible,  or 
if  not,  steeplechasing." 

So  the  pair  of  them  went  to  Sandhurst  together, 
and  together  in  due  course  were  gazetted  to  a  certain 
regiment  of  Indian  cavalry,  the  only  difference  being 
that  Godfrey  passed  out  top  and  Arthur  passed  out 
bottom,  although,  in  fact,  he  was  much  the  cleverer 
of  the  two.  Of  the  interval  between  these  two  ex- 
aminations there  is  nothing  that  need  be  reported,  for 
their  lives  and  the  things  that  happened  to  them  were 
as  those  of  hundreds  of  other  young  men.  Only 
through  all  they  remained  the  fastest  of  friends,  so 
much  so  that  by  the  influence  of  General  Cubitte,  as 
has  been  said,  they  managed  to  be  gazetted  to  the 
same  regiment. 

During  those  two  years  Godfrey  never  saw  his 
father,  and  communicated  with  him  but  rarely.  His 
winter  vacations  were  spent  at  Mrs.  Parsons'  house 
in  Hampstead,  working  for  the  most  part,  since  he 
was  absolutely  determined  to  justify  himself  and  get 
on  in  the  profession  which  he  had  chosen.  In  the 


234  LOVE  ETERNAL 

summer  he  and  Arthur  went  walking  tours,  and  once, 
with  some  other  young  men,  visited  the  Continent  to 
study  various  battlefields,  and  improve  their  minds. 
At  least  Godfrey  studied  the  battlefields,  while  Arthur 
gave  most  of  his  attention  to  the  younger  part  of  the 
female  population  of  France  and  Italy.  At  Easter 
again  they  went  to  Scotland,  where  Arthur  had  some 
property  settled  on  him — for  he  was  a  young  man  well 
supplied  with  this  world's  goods — and  fished  for 
salmon  and  trout.  Altogether,  for  Godfrey,  it  was  a 
profitable  and  happy  two  years.  At  Sandhurst  and 
elsewhere  everyone  thought  well  of  him,  while  old 
General  Cubitte  became  his  devoted  friend  and  could 
not  say  enough  in  his  praise. 

"  Damn  it !  Sir,"  he  exclaimed  once,  "  do  you  mean 
to  tell  me  that  you  never  overdraw  your  allowance? 
It  is  not  natural;  almost  wrong  indeed.  I  wonder 
what  your  secret  vices  are?  Well,  so  long  as  you 
keep  them  secret,  you  ought  to  be  a  big  man  one  day 
and  end  up  in  a  very  different  position  to  George 
Cubitte — called  a  General — who  never  saw  a  shot  fired 
in  his  life.  There'll  be  lots  of  them  flying  about  be- 
fore you're  old,  my  boy,  and  doubtless  you'll  get  your 
share  of  gunpowder — or  nitro-glycerine — if  you  go 
on  as  you  have  begun.  If  I  weren't  afraid  of  making 
you  cocky,  I'd  tell  you  what  they  say  about  you  down 
at  that  Sandhurst  shop,  where  I  have  an  old  pal  or 
two." 

Shortly  after  this  came  the  final  examination, 
through  which,  as  has  been  said,  Godfrey  sailed  out 
top,  an  easy  first  indeed — a  position  to  which  his 
thorough  knowledge  of  French  and  general  aptitude 
for  foreign  languages,  together  with  his  powers  of 


THE  INTERVENING  YEARS  235 

work  and  application,  really  entitled  him.  All  his 
friends  were  delighted,  especially  Arthur,  who  looked 
on  him  as  a  kind  of  lusus  natures,  and  from  his 
humble  position  at  the  bottom  of  the  tree,  gazed  ad-  ' 
miringly  at  Godfrey  perched  upon  its  topmost  bough. 
The  old  Pasteur,  too,  with  whom  Godfrey  kept  up 
an  almost  weekly  correspondence,  continuing  his  astro- 
nomical studies  by  letter,  was  enraptured  and  covered 
him  with  compliments,  as  did  his  instructors  at  the 
College. 

All  of  this  would  have  been  enough  to  turn  the 
heads  of  many  young  men,  but  as  it  happened  God- 
frey was  by  nature  modest,  with  enough  intelligence 
to  appreciate  the  abysmal  depths  of  his  own  ignorance 
by  the  light  of  the  little  lamp  of  knowledge  with  which 
he  had  furnished  himself  on  his  journey  into  their 
blackness.  This  intense  modesty  always  remained  a 
leading  characteristic  of  his,  which  endeared  him  to 
many,  although  it  was  not  one  that  helped  him  for- 
ward in  life.  It  is  the  bold,  self-confident  man,  who 
knows  how  to  make  the  most  of  his  small  gifts,  who 
travels  fastest  and  farthest  in  this  world  of  ours. 

When,  however,  actually  he  received  quite  an  affec- 
tionate and  pleased  letter  from  his  father,  he  did,  for 
a  while,  feel  a  little  proud.  The  letter  enclosed  a 
cutting  from  the  local  paper  recording  his  success, 
and  digging  up  for  the  benefit  of  its  readers  an  account 
of  his  adventure  on  the  Alps.  Also,  it  mentioned 
prominently  the  fact  that  he  was  the  son  of  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Knight,  the  incumbent  of  Monk's  Abbey,  and 
had  received  his  education  in  that  gentleman's  estab- 
lishment; so  prominently  indeed,  that  even  the  un- 
suspicious Godfrey  could  not  help  wondering  if  his 


236  LOVE  ETERNAL 

father  had  ever  seen  that  paragraph  before  it  appeared 
in  print.     The  letter  ended  with  this  passage: 

"  We  have  not  met  for  a  long  while,  owing  to  causes 
to  which  I  will  not  allude,  and  I  suppose  that  shortly 
you  will  be  going  to  India.  If  you  care  to  come  here 
I  should  like  to  see  you  before  you  leave  England. 
This  is  natural,  as  after  all  you  are  my  only  child  and 
I  am  growing  old.  Once  you  have  departed  to  that  far 
country  who  knows  whether  we  shall  ever  meet  again  in 
this  world?" 

Godfrey,  a  generous-hearted  and  forgiving  person, 
was  much  touched  when  he  read  these  words,  and 
wrote  at  once  to  say  that  if  it  were  convenient,  he 
would  come  down  to  Monk's  Abbey  at  the  beginning 
of  the  following  week  and  spend  some  of  his  leave 
there.  So,  in  due  course,  he  went. 

As  it  happened,  at  about  the  same  time  Destiny  had 
arranged  that  another  character  in  this  history  was 
returning  to  that  quiet  Essex  village,  namely  Isobel 
Blake. 

Isobel  went  to  Mexico  with  her  uncle  and  there  had 
a  most  interesting  time.  She  studied  Aztec  history 
with  her  usual  thoroughness;  so  well,  indeed,  that  she 
became  a  recognised  authority  on  the  subject.  She 
climbed  Popocatepetl,  the  mysterious  "  Sleeping 
Woman  "  that  overhangs  the  ancient  town,  and  looked 
into  its  crater.  Greatly  daring,  she  even  visited  Yuca- 
tan and  saw  some  of  the  pre-Aztec  remains.  For  this 
adventure  she  paid  with  an  attack  of  fever  which 
never  quite  left  her  system.  Indeed,  that  fever  had 
a  peculiar  effect  upon  her,  which  may  have  been 
physical  or  something  else.  Isobel's  fault,  or  rather 


THE  INTERVENING  YEARS  237 

characteristic,  as  the  reader  may  have  gathered,  was 
that  she  built  too  much  upon  the  material  side  of 
things.  What  she  saw,  what  she  knew,  what  her 
body  told  her,  what  the  recorded  experience  of  the 
world  taught — these  were  real;  all  the  rest,  to  her, 
was  phantasy  or  imagination.  She  kept  her  feet  upon 
the  solid  ground  of  fact,  and  left  all  else  to  dreamers; 
or,  as  she  would  have  expressed  it,  to  the  victims  of 
superstition  inherited  or  acquired. 

Well,  something  happened  to  her  at  the  crisis  of 
that  fever,  which  was  sharp,  and  took  her  on  her  re- 
turn from  Yucatan,  at  a  horrible  port  called  Frontera, 
where  there  were  palm  trees  and  zopilotes — a  kind  of 
vile  American  vulture — which  sat  silently  on  the 
verandah  outside  her  door  in  the  dreadful  little  hotel 
built  upon  piles  in  the  mud  of  the  great  river,  and 
mosquitoes  by  the  ten  million,  and  sleepy-eyed, 
crushed-looking  Indians,  and  horrible  halfbreeds,  and 
everything  else  which  suggests  an  earthly  hell,  except 
the  glorious  sunshine. 

Of  a  sudden,  when  she  was  at  her  worst,  all  the 
materiality — if  there  be  such  a  word — which  circum- 
stances and  innate  tendency  had  woven  about  her  as 
a  garment,  seemed  to  melt  away,  and  she  became 
aware  of  something  vast  in  which  she  floated  like  an 
insect  in  the  atmosphere — some  surrounding  sea  which 
she  could  neither  measure  nor  travel. 

She  knew  that  she  was  not  merely  Isobel  Blake, 
but  a  part  of  the  universe  in  its  largest  sense,  and 
that  the  universe  expressed  itself  in  miniature  within 
her  soul.  She  knew  that  ever  since  it  had  been,  she 
was,  and  that  while  it  existed  she  would  endure.  This 
imagination  or  inspiration,  whichever  it  may  have 


238  LOVE  ETERNAL 

been,  went  no  further  than  that,  and  afterwards  she 
set  it  down  to  delirium,  or  to  the  exaltation  that  often 
accompanies  fever.  Still,  it  left  a  mark  upon  her, 
opening  a  new  door  in  her  heart,  so  to  speak. 

For  the  rest,  the  life  in  Mexico  City  was  gay, 
especially  in  the  position  which  she  filled  as  the  niece 
of  the  British  Minister,  who  was  often  called  upon  to 
act  as  hostess,  as  her  aunt  was  delicate  and  her  cousin 
was  younger  than  herself  and  not  apt  at  the  business. 
There  were  Diaz  and  the  foreign  Diplomatic  Minis- 
ters; also  the  leading  Mexicans  to  be  entertained,  for 
which  purpose  she  learned  Spanish.  Then  there  were 
English  travellers,  distinguished,  some  of  them,  and 
German  nobles,  generally  in  the  Diplomatic  Service 
of  their  country,  whom  by  some  peculiar  feminine 
instinct  of  her  own,  she  suspected  of  being  spies  and 
generally  persons  of  evil  intentions.  Also  there  was 
the  British  colony,  among  whom  were  some  very  nice 
people  that  she  made  her  friends,  the  strange,  adven- 
turous pioneers  of  our  Empire  who  are  to  be  found  in 
every  part  of  the  world,  and  in  a  sense  its  cream. 

Lastly,  there  were  the  American  tourists  and  busi- 
ness men,  many  of  whom  she  thought  amusing.  One 
of  these,  a  millionaire  who  had  to  do  with  a  "  beef 
trust,"  though  what  that  might  be  she  never  quite 
understood,  proposed  to  her.  He  was  a  nice  young 
fellow  enough,  of  a  real  old  American  family  whose 
ancestors  were  supposed  to  have  come  over  in  the 
Mayflower,  and  possessed  of  a  remarkable  vein  of 
original  humour;  also  he  was  much  in  love.  But 
Isobel  would  have  none  of  it,  and  said  so  in  such 
plain,  unmistakable  language  that  the  millionaire 
straightway  left  Mexico  City  in  his  private  railway 


THE  INTERVENING  YEARS  239 

car,  disconsolately  to  pursue  his  beef  speculations  in 
other  lands. 

On  the  day  that  he  departed  Isobel  received  a  note 
from  him  which  ran : 

"  I  have  lost  you,  and  since  I  am  too  sore-hearted  to 
stay  in  this  antique  country  and  conclude  the  business 
that  brought  me  here,  I  reckon  that  I  have  also  lost 
250,000  dollars.  That  sum,  however,  I  would  gladly 
have  given  for  the  honour  and  joy  of  your  friendship, 
and  as  much  more  added.  So  I  think  it  well  spent, 
especially  as  it  never  figured  in  my  accounts.  Good-bye. 
God  bless  you  and  whoever  it  may  be  with  whom  you 
are  in  love,  for  that  there  is  someone  I  am  quite  sure, 
also  that  he  must  be  a  good  fellow." 

From  which  it  will  be  seen  that  this  millionaire 
was  a  very  nice  young  man.  So,  at  least,  thought 
Isobel,  though  he  did  write  about  her  being  in  love 
with  someone,  which  was  the  rankest  nonsense.  In 
love,  indeed !  Why,  she  had  never  met  a  man  for 
whom  she  could  possibly  entertain  any  feelings  of 
that  sort,  no,  not  even  if  he  had  been  able  to  make 
a  queen  of  her,  or  to  endow  her  with  all  the  cash 
resources  of  all  the  beef  trusts  in  the  world.  Men 
in  that  aspect  were  repellent  and  hateful  to  her;  the 
possibility  of  such  a  union  with  any  one  of  them  was 
poisonous,  even  unnatural  to  her,  soul  and  body. 

Once,  it  is  true,  there  had  been  a  certain  boy — but 
he  had  passed  out  of  her  life — oh!  years  ago,  and, 
what  is  more,  had  affronted  her  by  refusing  to  answer 
a  letter  which  she  had  written  to  him,  just,  as  she 
imagined — though  of  course  this  was  only  a  guess — 
because  of  his  ridiculous  and  unwarrantable  jealousy 


^240  LOVE  ETERNAL 

and  the  atrocious  pride  that  was  his  failing.  Also  she 
had  read  in  the  papers  of  a  very  brave  action  which 
he  had  done  on  the  Alps,  one  which  filled  her  with 
a  pride  that  was  not  atrocious,  but  quite  natural  where 
an  old  playmate  was  concerned,  and  had  noticed  that 
it  was  a  young  lady  whom  he  had  rescued.  That,  of 
course,  explained  everything,  and  if  her  first  supposi- 
tion should  be  incorrect,  would  quite  account  for  her 
having  received  no  answer  to  her  letter. 

It  was  true,  however,  that  she  had  heard  no  more 
of  this  young  lady,  though  scraps  of  gossip  concern- 
ing Godfrey  did  occasionally  reach  her.  For  instance, 
she  knew  that  he  had  quarrelled  with  his  father  be- 
cause he  would  not  enter  the  Church  and  was  going 
into  the  army,  a  career  which  she  much  preferred, 
especially  as  she  did  not  believe  in  the  Church  and 
could  not  imagine  what  Godfrey  would  look  like  in 
a  black  coat  and  a  white  tie. 

By  the  way,  she  wondered  what  he  did  look  like 
now.  She  had  an  old  faded  photograph  of  him  as 
a  lanky  youth,  but  after  all  this  time  he  could  not  in 
the  least  resemble  that.  Well,  probably  he  had  grown 
as  plain  and  uninteresting — as  she  was  herself.  It 
was  wonderful  that  the  American  young  man  could 
have  seen  anything  in  her,  but  then,  no  doubt  he  went 
on  in  the  same  kind  of  way  with  half  the  girls  he  met. 

Thus  reflected  Isobel,  and  a  little  while  later  paid 
a  last  visit  to  the  museum,  which  interested  her  more 
than  any  place  in  Mexico,  perhaps  because  its  exhibits 
strengthened  her  theories  as  to  comparative  religion, 
and  shook  off  her  feet  the  dust  of  what  her  American 
admirer  had  called  that  "  antique  land."  It  was  with 
a  positive  pang  that  from  the  deck  of  the  steamship 


THE  INTERVENING  YEARS  241 

outside  Vera  Cruz  she  looked  her  last  on  the  snows 
of  the  glorious  peak  of  Orizaba,  but  soon  these  faded 
away  into  the  skyline  and  with  them  her  life  in  Mexico. 

Returning  to  England  via  the  West  Indies  in  the 
company  of  her  uncle  who  was  coming  home  on  leave 
before  taking  up  an  appointment  as  Minister  to  one 
of  the  South  American  republics,  she  was  greeted  on 
the  platform  at  Waterloo  by  her  father.  Sir  John 
Blake  had  by  this  time  forgotten  their  previous  dis- 
agreements, or,  at  any  rate,  determined  to  ignore 
them,  and  Isobel,  who  was  now  in  her  way  a  finished 
woman  of  the  world,  though  she  did  not  forget,  had 
come  to  a  like  conclusion.  So  their  meeting  was  cor- 
dial enough,  and  for  a  while,  not  a  very  long  while, 
they  continued  to  live  together  in  outward  amity, 
with  a  tacit  understanding  that  they  should  follow 
their  respective  paths,  unmolested  by  each  other. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

TOGETHER 

ON  the  afternoon  of  the  first  day  after  his  arrival  at 
the  Abbey,  some  spirit  in  his  feet  moved  Godfrey  to 
go  into  the  church.  As  though  by  instinct,  he  went 
to  the  chancel,  and  stood  there  contemplating  the  brass 
of  the  nameless  Plantagenet  lady.  How  long  it  was 
since  he  had  looked  upon  her  graven  face  and  form 
draped  in  the  stately  habiliments  of  a  bygone  age! 
Then,  he  remembered  with  a  pang,  Isobel  was  with 
him,  and  they  had  seemed  to  be  very  near  together. 
Now  there  was  no  Isobel,  and  they  were  very  far 
apart,  both  in  the  spirit  and  in  the  flesh.  For  he  had 
not  heard  of  her  return  to  England  and  imagined  that 
she  was  still  in  Mexico,  whence  no  tidings  of  her  came 
to  him. 

There  he  stood  among  the  dead,  reflecting  that  we 
do  not  need  to  pass  out  of  the  body  to  know  the 
meaning  of  death,  since,  as  once  Isobel  had  said  her- 
self, some  separations  are  as  bad,  or  worse.  The 
story  of  the  dead  is,  at  any  rate,  completed;  there  is 
nothing  more  to  be  learned  about  them,  and  of  them 
we  imagine,  perhaps  quite  erroneously,  that  we  have 
no  need  to  be  jealous,  since  we  cannot  conceive  that 
they  may  form  new  interests  in  another  sphere.  But 
with  the  living  it  is  otherwise.  Somewhere  their  life 
is  continued;  somewhere  they  are  getting  themselves 
friends  or  lovers  and  carrying  on  the  daily  round  of 

242 


TOGETHER  243 

being,  and  we  have  no  share  in  them  or  in  aught  that 
they  may  do.  And  probably  they  have  forgotten  us. 
And,  if  we  still  happen  to  be  attached  to  them,  oh! 
it  hurts. 

Thus  mused  Godfrey,  trying  to  picture  to  himself 
what  Isobel  looked  like  when  she  had  stood  by  his 
side  on  that  long-past  autumn  eve,  and  only  succeed- 
ing in  remembering  exactly  what  she  looked  like  when 
she  was  kissing  a  rose  with  a  certain  knight  in  armour 
in  a  square  garden,  since  for  some  perverse  reason  it 
was  this  picture  that  remained  so  painfully  clear  to 
his  mind.  Then  he  drifted  off  into  speculations  upon 
the  general  mystery  of  things  of  a  sort  that  were 
common  with  him,  and  in  these  became  oblivious  of 
all  else. 

He  did  not  even  hear  or  see  a  tall  young  woman 
enter  the  church,  clad  in  summer  white,  no,  not  when 
she  was  within  five  paces  and,  becoming  suddenly 
aware  of  his  presence,  had  stopped  to  study  him  with 
the  acutest  interest.  In  a  flash  Isobel  knew  who  he 
was.  Of  course  he  was  much  changed,  for  Godfrey, 
who  had  matured  early,  as  those  of  his  generation 
were  apt  to  do,  especially  if  they  had  led  a  varied 
life,  was  now  a  handsome  and  well-built  young  man 
with  a  fine,  thoughtful  face  and  a  quite  respectable 
moustache. 

"  How  he  has  changed,  oh !  how  he  has  changed," 
she  thought  to  herself.  The  raw  boy  had  become  a 
man,  and  as  she  knew  at  once  by  her  woman's  instinct, 
a  man  with  a  great  deal  in  him.  Isobel  was  a  sensible 
member  of  her  sex;  one,  too,  who  had  seen  something 
of  the  world  by  now,  and  she  did  not  expect  or  wish 
for  a  hero  or  a  saint  built  upon  the  mid-Victorian 


244  LOVE  ETERNAL 

pattern,  as  portrayed  in  the  books  of  the  lady  novelists 
of  that  period.  She  wanted  a  man  to  be  a  man,  by 
preference  with  the  faults  pertaining  to  the  male  na- 
ture, since  she  had  observed  that  those  who  lacked 
these,  possessed  others  which  to  her  robust  woman- 
hood seemed  far  worse,  such  as  meanness  and  avarice 
and  backbiting,  and  all  the  other  qualities  of  the 
Pharisee. 

Well,  in  Godfrey,  whether  she  were  right  or  wrong, 
with  that  swift  glance  of  hers,  she  seemed  to  recognise 
a  man  as  she  wished  a  man  to  be.  If  that  standard 
of  hers  meant  that  very  possibly  he  had  admired  other 
women,  the  lady  whom  he  had  pulled  up  a  precipice, 
for  instance,  she  did  not  mind  particularly,  so  long  as 
he  admired  her,  Isobel,  most  of  all.  That  was  her 
one  sine  qua  non,  that  he  should  admire  her  most  of 
all,  or  rather  be  fondest  of  her  in  his  innermost  self. 

What  was  she  thinking  about?  What  was  there 
to  show  that  he  cared  one  brass  farthing  about  her? 
Nothing  at  all.  And  yet,  why  was  he  here  where  she 
had  parted  from  him  so  long  ago?  Surely  not  to 
stare  at  the  grave  of  a  dead  woman  with  whom  he 
could  have  had  nothing  to  do,  since  she  left  the  world 
some  five  centuries  before.  And  another  question. 
What  had  brought  her  here,  she  who  hated  churches 
and  all  the  mummery  that  they  signified? 

Would  he  never  wake  up?  Would  he  never  realise 
her  presence?  Oh!  then  he  could  care  nothing  about 
her.  Probably  he  was  thinking  of  the  girl  he  had 
pulled  up  a  cliff  in  the  Alps.  But  why  did  he  come 
to  this  place  to  think  of  her? 

Isobel  stood  quite  still  there  and  waited  in  the 
shadow  of  a  Georgian  tomb,  till  presently  Godfrey 


TOGETHER  245 

did  seem  to  grow  aware  that  he  was  no  longer  alone. 
Something  or  somebody  had  impinged  upon  his  intelli- 
gence. He  began  to  look  about  him,  though  always 
in  the  wrong  direction.  Then,  convinced  that  he  was 
the  victim  of  fancy,  he  spoke  aloud  as  he  had  a  bad 
habit  of  doing  when  by  himself. 

"  It's  very  curious,"  he  said,  "  but  I  could  have 
sworn  that  Isobel  was  here,  as  near  me  as  when  we 
parted.  I  suppose  that  is  what  comes  of  thinking  so 
much  about  her.  Or  do  people  leave  something  of 
themselves  behind  in  places  where  they  have  experi- 
enced emotion?  If  so,  churches  ought  to  be  very  full 
of  ghosts.  I  dare  say  that  they  are,  only  then  no  one 
could  know  it  except  those  who  had  shared  the  emo- 
tion, and  therefore  they  remain  intangible.  Still,  I 
could  have  sworn  that  Isobel  was  here.  Indeed,  I 
seem  to  feel  her  now,  and  I  hope  that  the  dream 
will  go  on." 

Listening  there  in  the  shadow,  she  heard,  and 
flushed  in  her  flesh  and  rejoiced  in  her  innermost 
being.  So  he  had  not  forgotten  her,  which  is  the 
true  and  real  infidelity  that  never  can  be  forgiven, 
at  any  rate,  by  a  woman.  So  she  was  still  something 
in  his  life,  although  he  had  not  answered  her  letter 
years  ago. 

Then  she  grew  angry  with  herself.  What  did  it 
matter  to  her  what  he  was,  or  thought,  or  did?  It 
was  absurd  that  she  could  be  dependent  morally  upon 
anyone,  who  must  rely  in  life  or  death  upon  herself 
alone  and  on  the  strong  soul  within  her.  She  was 
wroth  with  Godfrey  for  exciting  such  disturbance  in 
— what  was  if — her  spirit  or  her  body?  Nonsense, 
she  had  no  spirit.  That  was  a  phantasy.  Therefore 


246  LOVE  ETERNAL 

it  must  be  in  her  body  which  was  her  own  particular 
property  that  should  remain  uninfluenced  by  any  other 
body. 

So  it  came  about  that  the  first  words  she  spoke  to 
him  were  somewhat  rough  in  their  texture.  She 
stepped  forward  out  of  the  shadow  of  the  Georgian 
tomb  and  confronted  him  with  a  defiant  air,  her  head 
thrown  back,  looking,  to  tell  the  truth,  rather  stately. 

"  I  hoped  that  by  this  time  you  had  given  up  talking 
to  yourself,  Godfrey,  which,  as  I  always  told  you,  is  a 
bad  habit.  I  did  not  hear  much  of  what  you  were 
mumbling,  but  I  understood  you  to  say  that  you 
thought  I  was  here.  Well,  why  shouldn't  I  be  here  ?  " 

He  stared  at  her  blankly  and  answered : 

"  God  knows,  I  don't !  But  since  you  ask  the  ques- 
tion, why  are  you  here,  Isobel?  It  is  Isobel,  isn't 
it,  or  am  I  still  dreaming?  Let  me  touch  you  and  I 
shall  know." 

She  drew  back  a  little  way,  quite  three  inches. 

"Of  course  it  is  Isobel,  don't  your  senses  tell  you 
that  without  wanting  to  touch  me?  Why,  I  knew  it 
was  you  from  the  end  of  the  church.  But  you  ask  me 
why  I  am  here.  I  wish  you  would  tell  me.  I  was 
passing,  and  something  drew  me  into  this  place.  I 
suppose  it  was  you,  and  if  so,  I  say  at  once  that  I  re- 
sent it;  you  have  no  right " 

"  No,  no,  certainly  not,  but  do  let  me  touch  you  to 
make  sure  that  you  are  Isobel." 

"  Very  well,"  she  said,  and  stretched  out  a  hand 
towards  him. 

He  caught  it  with  his  left  which  was  nearest,  and 
then  with  his  right  reached  forward  and  seized  her 
other  hand.  With  a  masterful  movement  he  drew  her 


TOGETHER  247 

towards  him,  and  though  she  was  a  strong  woman 
she  seemed  to  have  no  power  to  resist.  She  thought 
that  he  was  going  to  kiss  her  and  did  not  care  greatly 
if  he  did. 

But  he  checked  himself  in  time,  and  instead  of 
pressing  his  lips  upon  hers,  only  kissed  her  hands, 
first  one  and  then  the  other,  for  quite  a  long  while : 
nor  did  she  attempt  to  deny  him,  perhaps  because  a 
wild  impulse  took  possession  of  her  to  kiss  his  in 
answer.  Yes,  his  hands,  or  his  lips,  or  even  his  coat 
or  anything  about  him.  Oh !  it  made  her  very  angry, 
but  there  it  was,  for  something  rushed  up  in  her 
which  she  had  never  felt  before,  something  mad  and 
wild  and  sweet. 

She  wrenched  herself  away  at  last  and  began  to 
scold  him  again. 

"  What  have  you  been  doing  all  these  years?  Why 
did  you  never  write  to  me?  " 

"  Because  I  was  too  proud,  as  you  never  wrote  to 
me." 

"  Too  proud !  Pride  will  be  your  ruin ;  it  goes  be- 
fore every  sort  of  fall.  Besides,  I  did  write  to  you.  I 
can  show  you  a  copy  of  the  letter,  if  I  haven't  torn 
it  up." 

"  I  never  got  it;  did  you  post  it  yourself?  " 

"  Yes,  that  is  I  took  it  to  the  Abbey  House  and 
left  it  to  be  addressed  there." 

"  Oh !  then  perhaps  it  is  there  still,"  and  he  looked 
at  her. 

"  Nonsense,  no  one  could  have  been  so  mean,  not 
even " 

He  shrugged  his  shoulders,  a  trick  he  had  learned 
abroad,  then  said: 


248  LOVE  ETERNAL 

"  Well,  it  doesn't  matter  now,  does  it,  Isobel  ?  " 

"  Yes,  it  matters  a  lot.  Years  of  misunderstanding 
and  doubt  and  loss,  when  life  is  so  short.  I  might 
have  married  or  all  sorts  of  things." 

"  What  has  my  not  receiving  your  letter  got  to  do 
with  that?  "  he  asked,  astonished. 

"  Nothing  at  all.  Why  do  you  ask  such  silly  ques- 
tions? I  only  meant  that  if  I  had  married  I  should 
not  have  been  here,  and  we  should  never  have  met 
again." 

"  Well,  you  are  here  and  we  have  met  in  this  church, 
where  we  parted." 

"  Yes,  it's  odd,  isn't  it  ?  I  wish  it  had  been  some- 
where else.  I  don't  like  this  gloomy  old  place  with 
its  atmosphere  of  death.  Come  outside." 

They  went,  and  when  they  were  through  the  church- 
yard gates  walked  at  hazard  towards  the  stream  which 
ran  through  the  grounds  of  Hawk's  Hall.  Here  they 
sat  down  upon  a  fallen  willow,  watching  the  swallows 
skim  over  the  surface  of  the  placid  waters,  and  for  a 
while  were  silent.  They  had  so  much  to  say  to  each 
other  that  it  seemed  as  though  scarcely  they  knew 
where  to  commence. 

"  Tell  me,"  she  said  at  length,  "  were  you  in  the 
square  garden  on  the  night  of  that  dance  at  which  I 
came  out?  Oh!  I  see  by  your  look  that  you  were. 
Then  why  did  you  not  speak  to  me  instead  of  standing 
behind  a  bush,  watching  in  that  mean  fashion  ?  " 

"  I  wasn't  properly  dressed  for  parties,  and — and — 
you  seemed  to  be — very  much  engaged — with  a  rose 
and  a  knight  in  armour." 

"  Engaged !  It  was  only  part  of  the  game.  I  wrote 
and  told  you  all  about  it  in  the  letter  you  did  not  get. 


TOGETHER  249 

Did  you  never  kiss  a  flower  for  a  joke  and  give  it  to 
someone,  not  knowing  that  you  were  being  watched  ?  " 

Godfrey  coloured  and  shifted  uneasily  on  his  log. 

"  Well,  as  a  matter  of  fact,"  he  said,  "  it  is  odd 
that  you  should  have  guessed — for  something  of  the 
sort  did  once  happen  quite  by  accident.  Also  I  was 
watched." 

"  I ! — you  mean  we.  One  doesn't  kiss  flowers  by 
oneself  and  give  them  to  the  air.  It  would  be  more 
ridiculous  even  than  the  other  thing." 

"  I  will  tell  you  all  about  it  if  you  like/'  he  stam- 
mered confusedly. 

She  looked  at  him  with  her  large,  steady  grey  eyes, 
and  answered  in  a  cold  voice : 

"  No,  thank  you,  I  don't  like.  Nothing  bores  me  so 
much  as  other  people's  silly  love  affairs." 

Baffled  in  defence,  Godfrey  resorted  to  attack. 

"What  has  become  of  the  knight  in  armour?"  he 
asked. 

"  He  is  married  and  has  twins.  I  saw  the  announce- 
ment of  their  birth  in  the  paper  yesterday.  And 
what  has  become  of  the  lady  with  the  flower?  For 
since  there  was  a  flower,  there  must  have  been  a  lady ; 
I  suppose  the  same  whom  you  pulled  up  the  preci- 
pice." 

"  She  is  married  also,  to  her  cousin,  but  I  don't 
know  that  she  has  any  children  yet,  and  I  never 
pulled  her  up  any  precipice.  It  was  a  man  I  pulled, 
a  very  heavy  one.  My  arm  isn't  quite  right  yet." 

"  Oh !  "  said  Isobel.  Then  with  another  sudden 
change  of  voice  she  went  on.  "  Now  tell  me  all  about 
yourself,  Godfrey.  There  must  be  such  lots  to  say, 
and  I  long  to  hear." 


250  LOVE  ETERNAL 

So  he  told  her,  and  she  told  him  of  herself,  and 
they  talked  and  talked  till  the  shadows  of  advancing 
night  began  to  close  around  them.  Suddenly  Godfrey 
looked  at  his  watch,  of  which  he  could  only  just  see 
the  hands. 

"My  goodness!"  he  said,  "it  is  half-past  seven." 

"  Well,  what  about  it  ?  It  doesn't  matter  when  I 
dine,  for  I  have  come  down  alone  here  for  a  few  days, 
a  week  perhaps,  to  get  the  house  ready  for  my  father 
and  his  friends." 

"  Yes,  but  my  father  dines  at  seven,  and  if  there  is 
one  thing  he  hates  it  is  being  kept  waiting  for  din- 
ner." 

She  looked  as  though  she  thought  that  it  did  not 
much  matter  whether  or  no  Mr.  Knight  waited  for  his 
dinner,  then  said : 

"  Well,  you  can  come  up  to  the  Hall  and  dine  with 
me." 

"  I  think  I  had  better  not,"  he  answered.  "  You  see, 
we  are  getting  on  so  well  together — I  mean  my  father 
and  I,  and  I  don't  want  to  begin  a  row  again.  He 
would  hate  it." 

"  You  mean,  Godfrey,  that  he  would  hate  your 
dining  with  me.  Well,  that  is  true,  for  he  always 
loathed  me  like  poison,  and  I  don't  think  he  is  a  man 
to  change  his  mind.  So  perhaps  you  had  better  go. 
Do  you  think  we  shall  be  allowed  to  see  each  other 
again  ?  "  she  added  with  sarcasm. 

"  Of  course.  Let's  meet  here  to-morrow  morning  at 
eleven.  My  father  is  going  to  a  Diocesan  meeting  and 
won't  be  back  till  the  evening.  So  we  might  spend  the 
day  together  if  you  have  nothing  better  to  do." 

"  Let  me  see.    No,  I  have  no  engagement.    You  see, 


TOGETHER  251 

I  only  came  down  half  an  hour  before  we  met  in  the 
church." 

Then  they  rose  from  their  willow  log  and  stood 
looking  at  each  other,  a  very  proper  pair.  Something 
welled  up  in  him  and  burst  from  his  lips. 

"  How  beautiful  you  have  grown,"  he  said. 

She  laughed  a  little,  very  softly,  and  said : 

"  Beautiful !  If  Those  Alpine  snows  affect  the 
sight,  don't  they?  I  felt  like  that  on  Popocatepetl. 
Or  is  it  the  twilight  that  I  have  to  thank?  Oh!  you 
silly  old  Godfrey,  you  must  have  been  living  among 
very  plain  people." 

"  You  are  beautiful,"  he  replied  stubbornly,  "  the 
most  beautiful  woman  I  ever  saw.  You  always  were, 
and  you  always  will  be." 

Again  she  laughed,  for  who  of  her  sex  is  there  that 
does  not  like  to  be  called  beautiful,  especially  when  she 
knows  that  it  is  meant,  and  that  whatever  her  per- 
sonal shortcomings,  to  the  speaker  she  is  beautiful? 
But  this  time  the  only  answer  she  attempted 
was: 

"  You  said  you  were  late,  and  you  are  getting  later. 
Run  home,  there's  a  good  little  boy." 

"  Why  do  you  laugh  at  me?  "  he  asked. 

"  Because  I  am  laughing  at  myself,"  she  answered, 
"  and  you  should  have  your  share." 

Then  very  nearly  he  kissed  her,  only  he  was  in  such 
a  hurry,  also  the  willow  log,  a  large  one,  was  between 
them;  possibly  she  had  arranged  that  this  should  be 
so.  So  he  could  only  press  her  hand  and  depart, 
muttering  something  indistinguishable.  She  watched 
him  vanish,  after  which  she  sat  down  again  on  the  log 
and  really  did  laugh.  Still,  it  was  a  queer  kind  of 


252  LOVE  ETERNAL 

merriment,  for  by  degrees  it  merged  into  little  sobs  and 
tears. 

"You  little  fool,  what  has  happened  to  you?"  she 
asked  herself.  "  Are  you — are  you — and  if  so,  is 
he — ?  Oh!  nonsense,  and  yet,  something  has  hap- 
pened, for  I  never  felt  like  this  before.  I  thought  it 
was  all  rubbish,  mere  natural  attraction,  part  of  Na- 
ture's scheme  and  so  on,  as  they  write  in  the  clever 
books.  But  it's  more  than  that — at  least  it  would  be 

if  I  were Besides,  I'm  ages  older  than  he  is, 

although  I  was  born  six  months  later.  I'm  a  woman 
full-grown,  and  he  is  only  a  boy.  If  he  hadn't  been 
a  boy  he  would  have  taken  his  advantage  when  he 
must  have  known  that  I  was  weak  as  water,  just  for 
the  joy  of  seeing  him  again.  Now  he  has  lost  his 
chance,  if  he  wanted  one,  for  by  to-morrow  I  shall 
be  strong  again  and  there  shall  be  no  more " 

Then  she  looked  at  the  backs  of  her  hands  which 
she  could  not  see  because  of  the  gathering  darkness, 
and  as  they  were  invisible,  kissed  them  instead,  just 
as  though  they  belonged  to  someone  else.  After  this 
she  sat  a  while  brooding  and  listening  to  the  pulsing 
of  her  heart,  which  was  beating  with  unusual  strength 
this  night.  As  she  did  so  in  that  mysterious  hour 
which  sometimes  comes  to  us  in  English  summers, 
a  great  change  fell  upon  her.  When  she  sat  down 
upon  that  fallen  tree  she  was  still  a  girl  and  virginal; 
when  she  rose  from  it  she  was  a  developed,  loving 
woman.  It  was  as  though  a  spirit  had  visited  her 
and  whispered  in  her  ear.  She  could  almost  hear  the 
words.  They  were : 

"  Fulfil  your  fate.  Love  and  be  loved  with  body 
and  with  spirit,  with  heart  and  soul  and  strength." 


TOGETHER  253 

At  length  she  rose,  and  as  she  did  so  said  aloud : 
"  I  do  not  know  who  or  what  I  have  to  thank  for 
life  and  all  that  makes  me,  me.  But  I  am  glad  to 
have  been  born,  now,  who  have  often  wished  that  I 
had  never  been  born.  Even  if  I  knew  that  I  must 
pass  away  to-night,  I  should  still  be  glad,  since  I  have 
learned  that  there  is  something  in  me  which  cannot 
die.  It  came  when  that  man  kissed  my  hands,  and 
it  will  endure  for  ever." 

Godfrey  was  late  for  dinner,  very  late,  and  what 
was  worse,  his  father  had  waited  for  him. 

"  I  suppose  you  forgot  that  I  dined  at  seven,  not 
at  eight,"  was  his  cold  greeting,  for  Mr.  Knight,  a 
large  eater  like, many  teetotallers,  was  one  of  those 
people  who  make  a  fetish  of  punctuality  at  meals,  and 
always  grow  cross  when  they  are  hungry. 

Godfrey,  whose  mind  had  not  been  steadied  by  the 
events  of  the  afternoon,  became  confused  and  replied 
that  he  was  extremely  sorry,  but  the  fact  was  he  had 
met  Isobel  and,  in  talking  to  her,  had  not  noticed  the 
time. 

"  Isobel !  "  exclaimed  his  father,  whose  voice  was 
now  icy.  "What  Isobel?" 

"  I  never  knew  but  one,  Father." 

"  Oh !  I  suppose  you  mean  Miss  Blake.  I  had  no 
idea  she  was  here;  indeed,  I  thought  she  was  still  in 
Mexico.  But  doubtless  you  were  better  informed." 

"  No,  Father,  I  met  her  accidentally.  She  has  re- 
turned to  England." 

"  That  is  obvious,  Godfrey " 

"  She  has  come  down,"  he  continued  in  a  hurry,  "  to 
get  the  house  ready  for  Sir  John,  who  arrives  shortly." 


254  LOVE  ETERNAL 

"  Oh !  has  she  ?  What  a  strange  coincidence !  All 
the  years  of  our  separation  while  you  were  away  she 
was  away,  but  within  two  days  of  your  return  she 
returns." 

"  Yes,  it  does  seem  odd,"  agreed  the  flustered  God- 
frey, "  but  it's  lucky,  isn't  it,  for,  of  course,  I  am  glad 
to  see  her  again." 

Mr.  Knight  finished  carving  himself  a  helping  of 
beef,  and  let  the  knife  fall  with  a  clatter  into  the  dish. 
Then  he  said  in  carefully  chosen  words: 

"  You  may  think  it  lucky — or  well  arranged — but  I 
must  differ.  I  tell  you  at  once  that  I  consider  Miss 
Blake  a  most  pernicious  young  woman,  and  as  your 
father  I  can  only  express  the  hope  that  you  do  not 
intend  to  allow  her  to  re-assert  her  evil  influence  over 
you." 

Godfrey  was  about  to  answer  with  wrath,  but 
changed  his  mind  and  remained  silent.  So  the  topic 
dropped,  but  that  it  stood  very  straight  upon  its  feet 
in  Mr.  Knight's  mind  was  clear  from  the  compression 
of  his  thin  lips  and  the  ill-humour  of  his  remarks 
about  the  coldness  and  overdone  character  of  the  beef 
and  sundry  other  household  matters.  As  soon  as  the 
meal  was  concluded  and  he  had  washed  it  down  with 
a  last  glass  of  water  and  with  a  very  wry  face  thanked 
Providence  for  all  that  he  had  received,  he  retired 
into  his  study  and  was  seen  no  more  till  prayer-time. 

Nor  was  he  seen  then  by  Godfrey,  who  had  gone 
out  to  smoke  his  pipe  since  his  father  could  not  bear 
the  smell  of  tobacco  in  the  house,  and  wandered  un- 
consciously towards  the  Hall.  There  he  stood,  gazing 
at  a  light  which  he  knew  came  from  Isobel's  window, 
and  lost  in  this  unfruitful  contemplation,  once  more 


TOGETHER  255 

forgot  the  time.  When  he  arrived  home  it  was  to 
find  the  house  in  darkness  and  a  note  in  his  father's 
handwriting  on  the  hall  table  requesting  him  to  be 
careful  to  lock  the  door,  as  everyone  had  gone  to  bed. 

He  went,  too,  but  could  not  sleep,  for,  strangely 
enough,  that  disturbance  of  body  and  spirit  which 
had  afflicted  Isobel  possessed  him  also.  It  seemed 
wonderful  to  him  that  he  should  have  found  her  again, 
whom  he  thought  to  be  so  utterly  lost,  and  grown  so 
sweet  and  dear.  How  could  he  have  lived  all  this 
while  without  her,  he  wondered,  and,  another  thought, 
how  could  he  bear  to  part  with  her  once  more?  Oh! 
she  was  his  life,  and — why  should  they  part?  She 
had  not  minded  when  he  kissed  her  hands,  at  which, 
of  course,  she  might  have  been  angry;  indeed,  she 
left  them  to  be  kissed  for  quite  a  long  while,  though 
not  half  long  enough.  Perhaps  she  did  not  wish  that 
they  should  part  either,  or  perhaps  she  only  desired 
that  they  should  be  just  friends  as  before.  It  seemed 
almost  impossible  that  they. could  become  more  than 
friends,  even  if  she  cared  to  do  so,  which  he  could 
scarcely  hope. 

What  was  he?  A  young  fellow,  twenty,  with  only 
a  little  money  and  all  his  way  to  make  in  the  world. 
And  what  was  she?  A  grand  young  lady,  rather 
younger  than  himself,  it  was  true,  but  seeming  years 
older,  who  was  a  great  heiress,  they  said,  and  expected 
to  marry  a  lord,  someone  born  with  a  silver  spoon  in 
his  mouth,  whose  fortune  had  been  made  for  him  by 
other  people.  Moreover,  his  father  hated  her  because 
their  religious  views  were  different,  and  her  father 
hated  him,  or  used  to,  for  other  reasons. 

Yes,    it    was    quite    impossible — and    yet    Nature 


256  LOVE  ETERNAL 

seemed  to  take  no  account  of  that:  Nature  seemed  to 
tell  him  that  it  was  absolutely  possible,  and  indeed 
right,  and  what  she,  Nature,  wished.  Also  this  same 
persistent  Nature  seemed  to  suggest  to  him  that  Isobel 
was  her  most  willing  and  obedient  pupil,  and  that 
perhaps  if  he  could  look  into  her  heart  he  would  find 
that  she  did  care,  and  very  much  more  than  for  the 
wealth  and  the  hypothetical  lord. 

Nature  seemed  to  suggest,  too,  that  Isobel's  thoughts 
were  with  him  at  that  moment;  that  she  was  uncom- 
monly near  to  him  in  soul  if  not  in  body;  that  she  was 
thinking  about  him  as  he  was  thinking  about  her,  and 
saying  much  the  same  things  to  herself  as  he  was  say- 
ing to  himself.  Indeed,  he  even  began  a  whispered 
conversation  with  her,  of  a  sort  he  would  not  have 
ventured  upon  had  she  been  there,  pausing  between 
the  sentences  for  her  answers,  which,  as  he  imagined 
them,  were  very  satisfactory  indeed. 

By  degrees,  however,  question  and  answer  grew 
less  frequent  and  further  apart  as  he  dozed  off  and 
finally  sank  into  a  deep  sleep.  So  deep  was  it,  indeed, 
that  he  was  awakened  only  by  the  clamour  of  the 
breakfast  bell,  and  when  he  arrived  downstairs,  to  be 
confronted  by  some  cold  bacon  on  an  uncovered  dish, 
his  father  had  departed  to  the  Diocesan  Conference. 
Well,  this  fact  had  its  consolations,  and  bacon,  how- 
ever cold,  with  contentment  is  better  than  bacon  hot 
where  contention  is. 

So  he  ate  it  and  anything  else  he  could  find  with 
appetite,  and  then  went  upstairs  to  shave  and  do  his 
hair  nicely  and  to  put  on  a  new  suit  of  clothes,  which 
he  considered  became  him.  Also,  as  he  had  still  three- 
quarters  of  an  hour  to  spare,  he  began  to  write  a  little 


TOGETHER  257 

poem  about  Isobel,  which  was  a  dismal  failure,  to  tell 
the  truth,  since  he  could  think  of  no  satisfactory 
rhyme  to  her  name,  except  "  O  well !  "  which,  however 
he  put  it,  sounded  silly. 

At  last,  rather  too  early,  he  threw  the  sheet  of  paper 
into  the  fireplace  and  started,  only  to  find  that  although 
it  still  lacked  a  quarter  of  an  hour  to  eleven,  Isobel 
was  already  seated  on  that  tree. 

"  What  have  you  been  doing  to  yourself  ?  "  she 
asked,  "  putting  on  those  smart  London  clothes  ?  I 
like  the  old  grey  things  you  had  on  last  night  ever  so 
much  better,  and  I  wanted  you  to  climb  a  tree  to  get 
me  some  young  jackdaws.  And — good  gracious! 
Godfrey,  your  head  smells  like  a  whole  hairdresser's 
shop.  Please  come  to  the  other  side,  to  leeward  of 
me." 

He  murmured  something  about  liking  to  look  tidy, 
and  then  remarked  that  she  seemed  rather  finely 
dressed  herself. 

"  It's  only  my  Mexican  hat,"  she  answered,  touch- 
ing the  big  sombrero,  woven  from  the  finest  Panama 
grass,  which  she  was  wearing,  "  and  the  necklace  is 
made  of  little  gold  Aztec  idols  that  were  found  in 
a  grave.  They  are  very  rare;  a  gentleman  gave  them 
to  me,  and  afterwards  I  was  horrified  to  find  that 
he  had  paid  an  awful  lot  for  them,  £200,  I  believe. 
Do  you  understand  about  the  Aztec  gods?  If  not  I 
will  explain  them  all  to  you.  This  big  one  in  the 
middle  is  Huitzilcoatl,  the  god  of " 

"  No,  no,"  interrupted  Godfrey,  "  I  don't  and  I 
don't  want  to.  I  think  them  very  ugly,  and  I  always 
understood  that  ladies  did  not  accept  such  expensive 
presents  from  gentlemen.  Who  was  he  ?  " 


258  LOVE  ETERNAL 

"  An  American  millionaire  who  didn't  wear  ar- 
mour," she  answered  blandly.  Then  she  changed  the 
subject  with  the  original  remark  that  the  swallows 
were  flying  higher  than  they  had  done  on  the  previous 
evening,  when  they  looked  as  though  one  could  almost 
catch  them  with  one's  hand. 

Godfrey  reflected  to  himself  that  other  things  which 
had  seemed  quite  close  on  the  previous  night  were  now 
like  the  swallows,  far  out  of  reach.  Only  he  took 
comfort  in  the  remembrance  that  swallows,  however 
near,  are  evasive  birds,  not  easy  to  seize  unless  you 
can  find  them  sleeping.  Next  she  began  to  tell  him 
all  about  the  Mexican  gods,  whether  he  wanted  to 
listen  or  not,  and  he  sat  there  in  the  glory  of  his  new 
clothes  and  brilliantined  hair,  and  gazed  at  her  till  she 
asked  him  to  desist  as  she  felt  as  though  she  were 
being  mesmerised. 

This  led  him  to  his  spiritualistic  experiences  of 
which  he  told  her  all  the  story,  and  by  the  time  it  was 
finished,  behold!  it  was  the  luncheon  hour. 

"  It  is  very  interesting,"  she  said  as  they  entered 
the  Hall,  "  and  I  can't  laugh  at  it  all  as  I  should  have 
done  once,  I  don't  quite  know  why.  But  I  hope,  God- 
frey, that  you  will  have  no  more  to  do  with  spirits." 

"  No,  not  while "  and  he  looked  at  her. 

"While  what?" 

"  While — there  are  such  nice  bodies  in  the  world," 
he  stammered,  colouring. 

She  coloured  also,  tossed  her  head,  and  went  to 
wash  her  hands. 

The  afternoon  they  spent  in  hunting  for  imaginary 
young  jackdaws  in  a  totally  nebulous  tree.  Isobel 
grew  rather  cross  over  its  non-discovery,  swearing 


TOGETHER  259 

that  she  remembered  it  well  years  ago,  and  that  there 
were  always  young  jackdaws  there. 

"  Perhaps  it  has  been  cut  down,"  suggested  Godfrey. 
"  I  am  told  that  your  father  has  been  improving  the 
place  a  great  deal  in  that  kind  of  way,  so  as  to  make 
it  up  to  date  and  scientific  and  profitable,  and  all  the 
rest  of  it.  Also  if  it  hasn't,  there  would  have  been 
no  young  jackdaws,  since  they  must  have  flown  quite 
six  weeks  ago." 

"  Then  why  couldn't  you  say  that  at  once,  instead 
of  making  us  waste  all  this  time?  "  asked  Isobel  with 
indignation. 

"  I  don't  know,"  replied  Godfrey  in  a  somewhat 
vacuous  fashion.  "  It  was  all  the  same  to  me  if  we 
were  hunting  for  young  jackdaws  or  the  man  in  the 
moon,  so  long  as  we  were  together." 

"  Godfrey,  it  is  evident  that  you  have  been  over- 
working and  are  growing  foolish.  I  make  excuses 
for  you,  since  anybody  who  passed  first  out  of  Sand- 
hurst must  have  overworked,  but  it  does  not  alter  the 
fact.  Now  I  must  go  home  and  see  about  that  house, 
for  as  yet  I  have  arranged  nothing  at  all,  and  the 
place  is  in  an  awful  state.  Remember  that  my  father 
is  coming  down  presently  with  either  six  or  eight 
terrible  people,  I  forget  which.  All  I  know  about 
them  is  that  they  are  extremely  rich  and  expect  to  be 
what  is  called  '  done  well.' ' 

"Must  you?"  remarked  Godfrey,  looking  dis- 
appointed. 

"  Yes,  I  must.  And  so  must  you.  Your  father  is 
coming  back  by  the  five  o'clock  train,  and  I  advise 
you  to  be  there  to  meet  him.  Perhaps  I  shall  see  you 
to-morrow  some  time." 


260  LOVE  ETERNAL 

"  I  can't,"  exclaimed  Godfrey  in  a  kind  of  wail. 
"  I  am  to  be  taken  off  to  a  school  in  some  town  or 
other,  I  forget  which,  that  my  father  has  been  examin- 
ing. I  suppose  it  is  the  speech  day,  and  he  proposes 
to  introduce  me  as  a  kind  of  object  lesson  because 
I  have  passed  first  in  an  examination." 

"  Yes,  as  a  shining  example  and — an  advertisement. 
Well,  perhaps  we  shall  meet  later,"  and  without  giving 
him  an  opportunity  of  saying  more  she  vanished  away. 


CHAPTER  XV 

FOR   EVER 

GODFREY  managed  to  be  late  again,  and  only  reached 
home  five  minutes  after  his  father,  who  had  bicycled 
instead  of  walking  from  the  station  as  he  supposed 
that  he  would  do. 

"  I  forgot  to  give  orders  about  your  lunch,"  said 
Mr.  Knight  tentatively.  "  I  hope  that  you  managed 
to  get  some." 

"Oh,  yes,  Father;  that  is,  I  lunched  out,  at  the 
Hall." 

"  Indeed !  I  did  not  know  that  Sir  John  had 
arrived." 

"  No,  he  hasn't ;  at  least  I  have  not  seen  him.  I 
lunched  with  Isobel." 

"  Indeed ! "  remarked  Mr.  Knight  again,  and  the 
subject  dropped. 

Next  day,  Godfrey,  once  more  arrayed  in  his  best 
clothes,  attended  the  prize-giving  and  duly  was  made 
to  look  foolish,  only  getting  home  just  in  time  for 
dinner,  after  which  his  father  requested  him  to  check 
certain  examination  papers.  Then  came  Sunday  and 
church  at  which  Isobel  did  not  appear;  two  churches 
in  fact,  and  after  these  a  tea  party  to  the  church- 
wardens and  their  wives,  to  whom  Godfrey  was  ex- 
pected to  explain  the  wonders  of  the  Alps.  Before 
it  was  over,  if  he  could  have  managed  it,  these  stolid 
farmers  with  their  families  would  have  lain  at  the 

361 


262  LOVE  ETERNAL 

bottom  of  the  deepest  moraine  that  exists  amid  those 
famous  mountains.  But  there  they  were,  swallowing 
tea  and  munching  cake  while  they  gazed  on  him  with 
ox-like  eyes,  and  he  plunged  into  wild  explanations 
as  to  the  movements  of  glaciers. 

"  Something  like  one  of  them  new-fangled  machines 
what  carry  hay  up  on  to  the  top  of  stacks,"  said 
Churchwarden  No.  i  at  length. 

"  Did  you  ever  sit  on  a  glacier  while  it  slided  from 
the  top  to  the  bottom  of  a  mountain,  Master  Godfrey, 
and  if  so,  however  did  you  get  up  again?"  asked 
Churchwarden  No.  2. 

"  Is  a  glacier  so  called  after  the  tradesman  what 
cuts  glass,  because  glass  and  ice  are  both  clear-like  ?  " 
inquired  Churchwarden  No.  I,  filled  with  sudden  in- 
spiration. 

Then  Godfrey,  in  despair,  said  that  he  thought  it 
was  and  fled  away,  only  to  be  reproached  afterwards 
by  his  father  for  having  tried  to  puzzle  those  excellent 
and  pious  men. 

On  Monday  his  luck  was  better,  since  Mr.  Knight 
was  called  away  immediately  after  lunch  to  take  a 
funeral  in  a  distant  parish  of  which  the  incumbent 
was  absent  at  the  seaside.  Godfrey,  by  a  kind  of  in- 
stinct, sped  at  once  to  the  willow  log  by  the  stream, 
where,  through  an  outreaching  of  the  long  arm  of 
coincidence,  he  found  Isobel  seated.  After  casually 
remarking  that  the  swallows  were  flying  neither  high 
nor  low  that  day,  but  as  it  were  in  mid-air,  she  added 
that  she  had  not  seen  him  for  a  long  while. 

"  No,  you  haven't — say  for  three  years,"  he  an- 
swered, and  detailed  his  tribulations. 

"Ah!"  said  Isobel,  "that's  always  the  way;  one 


FOR  EVER  263 

is  never  left  at  leisure  to  follow  one's  own  fancies  in 
this  world.  To-morrow,  for  instance,  my  father  and 
all  his  horrible  friends — I  don't  know  any  of  them, 
except  one,  but  from  past  experience  I  presume  then: 
to  be  horrible — are  coming  down  to  lunch,  and  are 
going  to  stop  for  three  days'  partridge  shooting. 
Their  female  belongings  are  going  to  stop  also,  or 
some  of  them  are,  which  means  that  I  shall  have  to 
look  after  them." 

"  It's  all  bad  news  to-day,"  remarked  Godfrey, 
shaking  his  head.  "  I've  just  had  a  telegram  saying 
that  I  must  report  myself  on  Wednesday,  goodness 
knows  why,  for  I  expected  to  get  a  month's  leave." 

"  Oh ! "  said  Isobel,  looking  a  little  dismayed. 
'  Then  let  us  make  the  best  of  to-day,  for  who  knows 
what  to-morrow  may  bring  forth  ?  " 

Who  indeed!  Certainly  not  either  of  these  young 
people. 

They  talked  awhile  seated  by  the  river;  then  began 
to  walk  through  certain  ancient  grazing  grounds  where 
the  monks  used  to  run  their  cattle.  Their  conversa- 
tion, fluent  enough  at  first,  grew  somewhat  constrained 
and  artificial,  since  both  of  them  were  thinking  of 
matters  different  from  those  that  they  were  trying 
to  dress  out  in  words;  intimate,  pressing,  burning 
matters  that  seemed  to  devour  their  intelligences  of 
everyday  with  a  kind  of  eating  fire.  They  grew  almost 
silent,  talking  only  at  random  and  listening  to  the 
beating  of  their  own  hearts  rather  than  to  the  words 
that  fell  from  each  other's  lips. 

The  sky  clouded  over,  and  some  heavy  drops  of 
rain  began  to  fall. 

"  I  suppose  that  we  must  go  in,"  said  Isobel,  "  we 


264  LOVE  ETERNAL 

shall  be  soaked  presently,"  and  she  glanced  at  her 
light  summer  attire. 

"Where?"  exclaimed  Godfrey.  "The  Abbey? 
No,  my  father  will  be  back  by  now;  it  must  be  the 
Hall." 

"  Very  well,  but  I  dare  say  my  father  is  there  by 
now,  for  I  understand  that  he  is  coming  down  this 
afternoon  to  arrange  about  the  shooting." 

"  Great  heavens !  "  groaned  Godfrey,  "  and  I  wanted 
to — tell  you  a  story  which  I  thought  perhaps  might 
interest  you,  and  I  don't  know  when  I  shall  get  an- 
other chance — now." 

"Then  why  did  you  not  tell  your  story  before?" 
she  inquired  with  some  irritation. 

"  Oh !  because  I  have  only  just  thought  of  it,"  he 
replied  rather  wildly. 

At  this  moment  they  were  passing  the  church,  and 
the  rain  began  to  fall  in  earnest.  By  some  mutual 
impulse  they  entered  through  the  chancel  door  which 
was  always  unlocked,  and  by  some  mutual  folly,  left 
it  open. 

Advancing  instinctively  to  the  tombs  of  the  un- 
known Plantagenet  lady  and  her  knight  which  were 
so  intimately  connected  with  the  little  events  of  their 
little  lives,  they  listened  for  a  while  to  the  rush  of 
the  rain  upon  the  leaden  roof,  saying  nothing,  till  the 
silence  grew  irksome,  indeed.  Each  waited  for  the 
other  to  break  it,  but  with  a  woman's  infinite  patience 
Isobel  waited  the  longer.  There  she  stood,  staring 
at  the  brass  of  the  Plantagenet  lady,  still  as  the  bones 
of  that  lady  which  lay  beneath. 

"  My  story,"  said  Godfrey  at  last  with  a  gasp,  and 
stopped. 


FOR  EVER  265 

"Yes,"  said  Isobel.     "What  is  it?" 

"  Oh !  "  he  exclaimed  in  an  agony,  "  a  very  short 
one.  I  love  you,  that's  all." 

A  little  quiver  ran  through  her,  causing  her  dress 
to  shake  and  the  gold  Mexican  gods  on  her  necklace 
to  tinkle  against  each  other.  Then  she  grew  still  as 
a  stone,  and  raising  those  large  and  steady  eyes  of 
hers,  looked  him  up  and  down,  finally  fixing  them 
upon  his  own. 

"  Is  that  true  ?  "  she  asked. 

"  True !  It  is  as  true  as  life  and  death,  or  as 
Heaven  and  Hell." 

"  I  don't  know  anything  about  Heaven  and  Hell; 
they  are  hypothetical,  are  they  not?  Life  and  death 
are  enough  for  me,"  and  she  stopped. 

"  Then  by  life  and  death,  for  life  and  death,  and 
for  ever,  I  love  you,  Isobel." 

"  Thank  you,"  she  said,  and  stopped  once  more. 

"  You  don't  help  one  much.  Have  you  nothing  to 
say?  " 

"  What  is  there  to  say  ?  You  made  a  statement 
for  which  I  thanked  you.  You  asked  no  question." 

"  It  is  a  question,"  he  exclaimed  indignantly.  "  If 
I  love  you,  of  course  I  want  to  know  if  you  love 
me." 

"  Then  why  did  you  not  say  so?  But,"  she  added 
very  deliberately,  "  since  you  want  to  know,  I  do  and 
always  have  and  always  shall,  in  life  or  death — and 
for  ever — if  that  means  anything." 

He  stared  at  her,  tried  to  utter  something  and 
failed.  Then  he  fell  back  upon  another  very  primitive 
and  ancient  expedient.  Flinging  his  arms  about  her, 
he  pressed  her  to  his  heart  and  kissed  her  again  and 


266  LOVE  ETERNAL 

again  and  again;  nor,  in  her  moment  of  complete 
surrender,  did  she  scruple  to  kiss  him  back. 

It  was  while  they  were  thus  engaged,  offering  a 
wonderful  spectacle  of  love  triumphant  and  rejoicing 
in  its  triumph,  that  another  person  who  was  passing 
the  church  bethought  him  of  its  shelter  as  a  refuge 
from  the  pouring  rain.  Seeing  the  open  chancel  door, 
Mr.  Knight,  for  it  was  he,  slipped  into  the  great 
building  in  his  quiet,  rather  cat-like  fashion,  but  on 
its  threshold  saw,  and  stopped.  Notwithstanding  the 
shadows,  he  recognised  them  in  a  moment.  More, 
the  sight  of  this  pair,  the  son  whom  he  disliked  and 
the  woman  whom  he  hated,  thus  embraced,  thus  lost 
in  a  sea  of  passion,  moved  him  to  white  fury,  so  that 
he  lifted  his  clenched  hands  above  his  head  and  shook 
them,  muttering: 

"  And  in  my  church,  my  church !  " 

Then  unable  to  bear  more  of  this  spectacle,  he 
slipped  away  again,  heedless  of  the  pouring  skies. 

By  nature,  although  in  obedience  to  a  rash  promise 
once  he  had  married,  Mr.  Knight  was  a  true  woman- 
hater.  That  sex  and  everything  to  do  with  it  were 
repellent  to  him.  Even  the  most  harmless  manifesta- 
tions of  natural  affection  between  male  and  female 
he  considered  disgusting,  indeed  indecent,  and  if  these 
were  carried  any  further  he  held  it  to  be  among  the 
greatest  of  crimes.  He  was  one  of  those  who,  if  he 
had  the  power,  would  have  hounded  any  poor  girl 
who,  in  the  country  phrase,  "  had  got  into  trouble," 
to  the  river  brink  and  over  it,  as  a  creature  not  fit  to 
live;  or  if  she  escaped  destruction,  would  have,  and 
indeed  often  had,  pursued  her  with  unceasing  ma- 
lignity, thinking  that  thereby  he  did  God  service.  His 


FOR  EVER  267 

attitude  towards  such  a  person  was  that  of  an  In- 
quisitor towards  a  fallen  nun. 

Moreover,  he  could  do  this  with  a  clear  conscience, 
since  he  could  say  truly  that  he  was  qualified  to  throw 
the  first  stone,  being  of  those  who  mistake  personal 
aversion  for  personal  virtue.  Because  his  cold-hearted 
nature  rejected  it,  he  loathed  this  kind  of  human  fail- 
ing and  felt  good  in  the  loathing.  Nor  did  it  ever 
occur  to  him  to  reflect  that  others,  such  as  secret 
malice,  jealousy  and  all  uncharitableness  on  which  his 
heart  fed,  might  be  much  worse  than  the  outrush  of 
human  passion  in  obedience  to  the  almighty  decree 
of  Nature  that  is  determined  not  to  die. 

These  being  his  views,  the  feelings  that  the  sight 
awoke  in  him  of  this  pair  declaring  their  holy  love 
in  the  accustomed,  human  fashion,  can  scarcely  be 
measured  and  certainly  are  beyond  description.  Had 
he  been  another  sort  of  man  who  had  found  some 
devil  flogging  a  little  child  to  death,  the  rage  and 
indignation  aroused  in  his  breast  could  not  have  been 
greater,  even  if  it  were  his  own  child. 

The  one  thing  that  Mr.  Knight  had  feared  for  years 
was  that  Godfrey,  who,  as  he  knew,  was  fonder  of 
Isobel  than  of  any  other  living  creature,  should  come 
to  love  her  in  a  fuller  fashion :  Isobel,  a  girl  who  had 
laughed  at  and  flouted  him  and  once  told  him  to  his 
face  that  a  study  of  his  character  and  treatment  of 
others  had  done  more  to  turn  her  from  the  Christian 
religion  than  anything  else. 

In  a  sense  he  was  unselfish  in  this  matter,  or  rather 
his  hate  mastered  his  selfishness.  He  knew  very  well 
that  Isobel  would  be  a  great  match  for  Godfrey,  and 
he  was  by  no  means  a  man  who  underrated  money 


268  LOVE  ETERNAL 

and  position  and  their  power.  He  guessed,  too,  that 
she  really  loved  him  and  would  have  made  him  the 
best  of  wives;  that  with  her  at  his  side  he  might  do 
almost  anything  in  the  world.  But  these  considera- 
tions did  not  in  the  least  soften  his  loathing  of  the 
very  thought  of  such  a  marriage.  Incredible  as  it 
may  seem,  he  would  rather  have  seen  Godfrey  dead 
than  the  happy  husband  of  Isobel. 

Mr.  Knight,  drunk  'with  rage,  reeled  rather  than 
walked  away  from  the  church  door,  wondering  what 
he  might  do  to  baulk  and  shame  that  living,  loving 
pair  who  could  kiss  and  cling  even  among  the  tombs. 
A  thought  came  to  him,  a  very  evil  thought  which  he 
welcomed  as  an  inspiration  sent  straight  from  an 
offended  Heaven.  Sir  John  Blake  had  come  home; 
he  knew  it,  for  he  had  passed  him  on  the  road  seated 
alone  in  a  fine  motor-car,  and  they  had  waved  their 
hands  to  each  other  not  ten  minutes  before.  He  would 
go  and  tell  him  all ;  in  the  character  of  an  upright  man 
who  does  not  like  to  see  his  rich  neighbour  harmed 
by  the  entanglement  of  that  neighbour's  daughter  in 
an  undesirable  relationship.  That  Sir  John  would 
consider  himself  to  be  harmed,  he  was  sure  enough, 
being  by  no  means  ignorant  of  his  plans  and  as- 
pirations for  the  future  of  that  daughter,  who  was 
expected  to  make  a  great  alliance  in  return  for 
the  fortune  which  she  would  bring  to  her  hus- 
band. 

No  sooner  said  than  done.  In  three  minutes  he 
was  at  the  Hall  and,  as  it  chanced,  met  Sir  John  by 
the  front  door. 

"  Hullo,  Reverend !  How  are  you  ?  You  look  very 
wet  and  miserable;  taking  refuge  from  the  rain,  I 


FOR  EVER  269' 

suppose,  though  it  is  clearing  off  now.  Have  a  brandy 
and  soda,  or  a  glass  of  port?" 

"  Thank  you,  Sir  John,  I  am  an  abstainer,  but  a 
cup  of  hot  tea  would  be  welcome." 

"  Tea — ah !  yes,  but  that  takes  time  to  make,  so  I 
should  have  to  leave  you  to  drink  it  by  yourself.  Fact 
is  I  want  to  find  my  daughter.  Some  of  those  blessed 
guests  of  mine,  including  Mounteroy,  the  young  Earl, 
you  know,  whom  I  wish  her  to  meet  particularly,  are 
coming  down  to-night  by  the  last  train  and  not  to- 
morrow, so  I  must  get  everything  arranged  in  a  hurry. 
Can't  make  out  where  the  girl  has  gone." 

"  I  think  I  can  tell  you,  Sir  John,"  said  Mr.  Knight 
with  a  sickly  smile ;  "  at  least  I  saw  her  a  little  while 
ago  rather  peculiarly  engaged." 

"Where,  and  how  was  she  engaged?" 

Without  asking  permission  Mr.  Knight  entered  the 
house  and  stepped  into  a  cloak-room  that  opened  out 
of  the  hall.  Being  curious,  Sir  John  followed  him. 
Mr.  Knight  shut  the  door  and,  supporting  himself 
against  the  frame  of  a  marble  wash-basin  with  gilded 
taps,  said : 

"  I  saw  her  in  the  chancel  of  the  Abbey  Church 
and  she  was  engaged  in  kissing  my  son,  Godfrey; 
at  least  he  was  kissing  her,  and  she  seemed  to  be 
responding  to  his  infamous  advances,  for  her  arms 
were  round  his  neck  and  I  heard  sounds  which  sug- 
gested that  this  was  so." 

"  Holy  Moses!  "  ejaculated  Sir  John,  "  what  in  the 
name  of  hell  are  they  after?  " 

"  Your  question,  stripped  of  its  unnecessary  and 
profane  expletives,  seems  easy  to  answer.  I  imagine 
that  my  immoral  son  has  just  proposed  to  your  daugh- 


2;o  LOVE  ETERNAL 

ter,  and  been  accepted  with — well,  unusual  empha- 
sis." 

"  Perhaps  you  are  right.  But  if  he  had  I  don't  see 
anything  particularly  immoral  about  it.  If  I  had  never 
done  anything  worse  than  that  I  shouldn't  feel  myself 
called  to  go  upon  my  knees  and  cry  peccavi.  How- 
ever, that  ain't  the  point.  The  point  is  that  a  game 
of  this  sort  don't  at  all  suit  my  book,  but,"  here  he 
looked  at  the  clergyman  shrewdly,  "  why  do  you  come 
to  tell  about  it?  I  should  have  thought  that  under  all 
the  circumstances  you  would  have  been  glad.  Isobel 
isn't  likely  to  be  exactly  a  beggar,  you  know,  so  it 
seems  devilish  queer  that  you  should  object,  as  I  gather 
you  do;  unless  it  is  to  the  kissing,  which  has  been 
heard  of  before." 

"  I  do  object  most  strongly,  Sir  John,"  replied  Mr. 
Knight  in  his  iciest  tones.  "  I  disapprove  entirely  of 
your  daughter,  whose  lack  of  any  Christian  feeling 
is  notorious,  and  whose  corrupting  influence  will,  I 
fear,  make  my  son  as  bad  as  herself." 

"  Damn  her  lack  of  Christian  feeling,  and  damn 
yours  and  your  impudence  too,  you  half-drowned 
church  rat!  Why  don't  you  call  her  Jezebel  at  once, 
and  have  done  with  it?  One  of  the  things  I  like  about 
her  is  that  she  has  the  pluck  to  snap  her  fingers  at 
such  as  you  and  all  your  ignorant  superstitions.  What 
are  you  getting  at?  That  is  what  I  want  to  know." 

"  I  put  aside  your  insults  to  which  as  a  clergyman 
it  is  my  duty  to  turn  the  other  cheek,"  replied  Mr. 
Knight,  with  a  furious  gasp.  "  As  to  the  rest  I  am 
trying  to  get  at  the  pure  and  sacred  truth." 

"  You  look  as  though  you  would  do  better  to  get 
at  the  pure  and  sacred  brandy,"  remarked  Sir  John, 


FOR  EVER  271 

surveying  him  critically,  "  but  that's  your  affair. 
Now,  what  is  this  truth?" 

"  Alas !  that  I  must  say  it.  I  believe  my  son 
to  be  that  basest  of  creatures,  a  fortune-hunter. 
How  did  he  get  that  money  left  to  him  by  another 
woman? " 

"  Don't  know,  I'm  sure.  Perhaps  the  old  girl  found 
the  young  chap  attractive,  and  wished  to  acknowledge 
favours  received.  Such  things  have  been  known.  You 
don't  suppose  he  forged  her  will,  do  you  ?  " 

"  You  are  ribald,  Sir,  ribald." 

"  Am  I  ?  Well,  and  you  are  jolly  offensive.  Thank 
God  you  weren't  my  father.  Now,  from  what  I  re- 
member of  that  boy  of  yours,  I  shouldn't  have  thought 
that  he  was  a  fortune-hunter.  I  should  have  thought 
that  he  was  a  young  beggar  who  wished  to  get  hold 
of  the  girl  he  fancies,  and  that's  all.  Still,  you  know 
him  best,  and  I  dare  say  you  are  right.  Anyway, 
for  your  own  peculiar  and  crack-brained  reasons,  you 
don't  want  this  business,  and  I  say  at  once  you  can't 
want  it  less  than  I  do.  Do  you  suppose  that  I  wish  to 
see  my  only  child,  who  will  have  half  a  million  of 
money  and  might  be  a  countess,  or  half  a  dozen 
countesses,  to-morrow,  married  to  the  son  of  a  beg- 
garly sniveller  like  you,  for  as  you  are  so  fond  of 
the  pure  and  sacred  truth,  I'll  give  it  you — a  fellow 
who  can  come  and  peach  upon  your  own  boy  and  his 
girl." 

"  My  conscience  and  my  duty "  began  Mr. 

Knight. 

"  Oh !  drat  your  conscience  and  blow  your  duty. 
You're  a  spy  and  a  backbiting  tell-tale,  that's  what 
you  are.  Did  you  never  kiss  a  girl  yourself?  " 


272  LOVE  ETERNAL 

"  Never  until  after  I  was  married,  when  we  are 
specially  enjoined  by  the  great  Apostle " 

"  Then  I'm  sorry  for  your  wife,  for  she  must  have 
had  a  lot  to  teach  you.  But  let's  stop  slanging,  we 
have  our  own  opinions  of  each  other  and  there's  an 
end.  Now  we  have  both  the  same  object,  you  because 
you  are  a  pious  crank  and  no  more  human  than  a 
dried  eel,  and  I  because  I  am  a  man  of  the  world  who 
want  to  see  my  daughter  where  she  ought  to  be, 
wearing  a  coronet  in  the  House  of  Lords.  The  ques- 
tion is :  How  is  the  job  to  be  done?  You  don't  under- 
stand Isobel,  but  I  do.  If  her  back  is  put  up,  wild 
horses  won't  move  her.  She'd  snap  her  fingers  in 
my  face,  and  tell  me  to  go  to  a  place  that  you  are 
better  acquainted  with  than  I  am,  or  will  be,  and 
take  my  money  with  me.  Of  course,  I  could  hold 
her  for  a  few  months,  till  she  is  of  age  perhaps,  but 
after  that,  No.  So  it  seems  that  the  only  chance  is 
with  your  son.  Now,  what's  his  weak  point?  Can 
he  be  bought  off?" 

"  Certainly  not,"  said  Mr.  Knight. 

"  Oh !  that's  odd  in  one  who,  you  say,  is  a  fortune- 
hunter.  Well,  what  is  it?  Everyone  has  a  weak 
point,  and  another  girl  won't  do  just  now." 

"  His  weakest  point  is  his  fondness  for  that  treach- 
erous and  abominable  sex  of  which  I  have  just  had 
so  painful  an  example;  and  in  the  church  too,  yes, 
in  my  church." 

"  And  a  jolly  good  place  to  get  to  in  such  a  rain, 
for  of  course  they  didn't  know  that  you  were  hiding 
under  the  pews.  But  I've  told  you  that  cock  won't 
fight  at  present.  What's  the  next  ?  " 

At  these   accumulated   insults   Mr.   Knight  turned 


FOR  EVER  273 

perfectly  livid  with  suppressed  rage.  But  he  did  sup- 
press it,  for  he  had  an  object  to  gain  which,  to  his 
perverted  mind,  was  the  most  important  in  the  whole 
world — namely,  the  final  separation  of  his  son  and 
Isobel. 

"  His  next  bad  point,"  he  went  on,  "  is  his  pride, 
which  is  abnormal,  although  from  childhood  I  have 
done  my  best  to  inculcate  humility  of  spirit  into  his 
heart.  He  cannot  bear  any  affront,  or  even  neglect. 
For  instance,  he  left  me  for  some  years  just  because 
he  did  not  consider  that  he  was  received  properly  on 
his  return  from  Switzerland;  also  because  he  went 
into  a  rage,  for  he  has  a  very  evil  temper  if  roused, 
when  I  suggested  that  he  wanted  to  run  after  your 
daughter's  money." 

"  Well,  it  wasn't  a  very  nice  thing  to  say,  was  it? 
But  I  think  I  see  light.  He's  proud,  is  he,  and  don't 
like  allusions  to  fortune-hunting.  All  right;  I'll  rub 
his  nose  in  the  dirt  and  make  him  good.  I'm  just  the 
boy  for  a  job  of  that  sort,  as  perhaps  you  will  agree, 
my  reverend  friend;  and  if  he  shows  his  airs  to  me, 
I'll  kick  him  off  the  premises.  Come  on !  I  dare  say 
we  shall  find  them  still  in  the  church,  where  they 
think  themselves  so  snug,  although  the  rain  has 
stopped." 

So  this  precious  pair  started,  each  of  them  bent, 
though  for  different  reasons,  upon  as  evil  a  mission 
as  the  mind  of  man  can  conceive.  For  what  is  there 
more  wicked  than  to  wish  to  bring  about  the  separa- 
tion and  subsequent  misery  of  two  young  people  who, 
as  they  guessed  well  enough,  loved  each  other  body 
and  soul,  and  thereby  to  spoil  their  lives?  Yet,  so 
strange  is  human  nature,  that  neither  of  them  thought 


274  LOVE  ETERNAL 

that  they  were  committing  any  sin.  Mr.  Knight,  now 
and  afterwards,  justified  himself  with  the  reflection 
that  he  was  parting  his  son  from  a  "  pernicious " 
young  woman  of  strong  character,  who  would  prob- 
ably lead  him  away  from  religion  as  it  was  under- 
stood by  him.  One  also  whom  he  looked  upon  as 
the  worst  of  outcasts,  who  deserved  and  doubtless 
was  destined  to  inhabit  hell,  because  hastily  she  had 
rejected  his  form  of  faith,  as  the  young  are  apt  to 
do,  for  reasons,  however  hollow,  that  seemed  to  her 
sufficient. 

He  took  no  account  of  his  bitter,  secret  jealousy  of 
this  girl,  who,  as  he  thought,  had  estranged  his  son 
from  him,  and  prevented  him  from  carrying  out  his 
cherished  plans  of  making  of  him  a  clergyman  like 
himself,  or  of  his  innate  physical  hatred  of  women 
which  caused  him  to  desire  that  Godfrey  should  remain 
celibate.  These  motives,  although  he  was  well  aware 
of  them,  he  set  down  as  naught,  being  quite  sure,  in 
view  of  the  goodness  of  his  aims,  that  they  would  be 
overlooked  or  even  commended  by  the  Power  above 
Whom  he  pictured  in  his  mind's  eye  as  a  furious  old 
man,  animated  chiefly  by  jealousy  and  a  desire  to 
wreak  vengeance  on  and  torture  the  helpless.  For  it 
is  the  lessons  of  the  Old  Testament  that  sink  most 
deeply  into  the  souls  of  Mr.  Knight  and  his  kind. 

Sir  John's  ends  were  quite  different.  He  was  the 
very  vulgarest  of  self-made  men,  coarse  and  brutal 
by  nature,  a  sensualist  of  the  type  that  is  untouched 
by  imagination;  a  man  who  would  crush  anyone  who 
stood  in  his  path  without  compunction,  just  because 
that  person  did  stand  in  his  path.  But  he  was  ex- 
tremely shrewd — witness  the  way  he  saw  through 


FOR  EVER  275 

Mr.  Knight — and  in  his  own  fashion  very  able — wit- 
ness his  success  in  life. 

Moreover,  since  a  man  of  his  type  has  generally 
some  object  beyond  the  mere  acquiring  of  money, 
particularly  after  it  has  been  acquired,  he  had  his, 
to  rise  high,  for  he  was  very  ambitious.  His  natural 
discernment  set  all  his  own  failings  before  him  in 
the  clearest  light ;  also  their  consequences.  He  knew 
that  he  was  vulgar  and  brutal,  and  that  as  a  result 
all  persons  of  real  gentility  looked  down  upon  him, 
however  much  they  might  seem  to  cringe  before  his 
money  and  power,  yes,  though  they  chanced  to  be 
but  labouring  men. 

For  instance,  his  wife  had  done  so,  which  was  one 
of  the  reasons  why  he  hated  her,  as  indeed  had  all 
her  distinguished  relatives,  after  they  came  to  know 
him,  although  he  lent  them  money.  He  knew  that 
even  if  he  became  a  peer,  as  he  fully  expected  to  do, 
it  would  be  the  same  story;  outward  deference  and 
lip  service,  but  inward  dislike  and  contempt.  In  short, 
there  were  limits  which  he  could  never  hope  to  pass, 
and  therefore  so  far  as  he  was  concerned,  his  am- 
bitious thirst  must  remain  unslaked. 

But  he  had  a  daughter  whom  Nature,  perhaps  be- 
cause of  her  mother's  blood,  had  set  in  quite  a  dif- 
ferent class.  She  had  his  ability,  but  she  was  gentle- 
born,  which  he  was  not,  one  who  could  mix  with 
and  be  welcomed  by  the  highest  in  the  world,  and 
this  without  the  slightest  question.  If  not  beautiful, 
she  was  very  distinguished;  she  had  presence  and 
what  the  French  call  "  the  air."  Further,  she  would 
be  one  of  the  richest  women  in  England.  Considered 
from  his  point  of  view,  therefore,  it  was  but  natural 


276  LOVE  ETERNAL 

that  he  should  desire  her  to  make  a  brilliant  marriage 
and  found  a  great  family,  which  he  would  thus  have 
originated — at  any  rate,  to  some  extent.  Night  and 
day  he  longed  that  this  should  come  about,  and  it 
was  the  reason  why  the  young  Lord  Mounteroy  was 
visiting  Hawk's  Hall. 

Mounteroy  had  met  Isobel  at  a  dinner-party  in 
London  the  other  day  and  admired  her.  He  had 
told  an  old  lady — a  kind  of  society  tout — who  had 
repeated  it  to  Sir  John,  that  he  wished  to  get  married, 
and  that  Isobel  Blake  was  the  sort  of  girl  he  would 
like  to  marry.  He  was  a  clever  man,  also  ambitious, 
one  who  had  hopes  of  some  day  ruling  the  country, 
but  to  do  this  he  needed  behind  him  great  and  assured 
fortune  in  addition -to  his  ancient  but  somewhat  im- 
poverished rank.  In  short,  she  suited  his  book,  and 
he  suited  that  of  Sir  John.  Now,  the  thing  to  do  was 
to  bring  it  about  that  he  should  also  suit  Isobel's  book. 
And  just  at  the  critical  moment  this  accursed  accident 
had  happened.  Oh!  it  was  too  much. 

No  wonder  that  Sir  John  was  filled  with  righteous 
wrath  and  a  stern  determination  to  "  make  things 
hot "  for  the  cause  of  the  "  accident "  as,  led  to  the 
attack  by  the  active  but  dripping  Mr.  Knight  whom 
he  designated  in  his  heart  as  that  "  little  cur  of  a 
parson,"  much  as  an  overfed  and  bloated  bloodhound 
might  be  by  some  black  and  vicious  mongrel,  he 
tramped  heavily  towards  the  church.  Indeed  they 
made  a  queer  contrast,  this  small,  active  but  fierce- 
faced  man  in  his  sombre,  shiny  garments  and  dingy 
white  tie,  and  the  huge,  ample-paunched  baronet  with 
his  red,  flat  face,  heavy  lips  and  projecting  but  intelli- 
gent eyes,  clothed  in  a  new  suit,  wearing  an  enormous 


FOR  EVER  277 

black  pearl  in  his  necktie  and  a  diamond  ring  on  his 
finger;  the  very  ideal  of  Mammon  in  every  detail  of 
his  person  and  of  his  carefully  advertised  opulence. 

Isobel,  whose  humour  had  its  sardonic  side,  and 
who  was  the  first  to  catch  sight  of  them  when  they 
reached  the  church,  Mr.  Knight  tripping  ahead,  and 
Sir  John  hot  with  the  exercise  in  the  close,  moist  air, 
lumbering  after  him  with  his  mouth  open,  compared 
them  in  her  mind  to  a  fierce  little  pilot  fish  conducting 
an  overfed  shark  to  some  helpless  prey  which  it  had 
discovered  battling  with  the  waters  of  circumstance; 
that  after  all,  was  only  another  version  of  the  mongrel 
and  the  bloodhound.  Also  she  compared  them  to  other 
things,  even  less  complimentary. 

Yet  none  of  these,  perhaps,  was  really  adequate, 
either  to  the  evil  intentions  or  the  repellent  appear- 
ance of  this  pair  as  they  advanced  upon  their  wicked 
mission  of  jealousy  and  hate. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

LOVE  AND  LOSS 

ALL  unaware  that  they  had  been  seen  and  by  no 
friendly  eyes,  Godfrey  and  Isobel  remained  embracing 
each  other  for  quite  a  long  while.  At  length  she 
wrenched  herself  away  and,  sinking  on  to  a  chancel 
bench,  motioned  to  him  to  seat  himself  beside  her. 

"  Let  us  talk,"  she  said  in  a  new  voice,  a  strange 
voice  that  was  low  and  rich,  such  as  he  had  never 
heard  her  use,  "  let  us  talk,  my  dear." 

"  What  of  ?  "  he  asked  almost  in  a  whisper  as  he 
took  his  place,  and  her  hand,  which  he  held  against 
his  beating  heart.  "  My  soul  has  been  talking  to 
yours  for  the  last  five  minutes,  or  is  it  five  seconds 
or  five  years?  It  does  not  seem  to  have  anything 
more  to  say." 

"  Yet  I  think  there  is  plenty  to  be  said,  Godfrey. 
Do  you  know  that  while  we  were  kissing  each  other 
there  some  very  queer  ideas  got  hold  of  me,  not  only 
of  the  sort  which  might  be  expected  in  our  case?  You 
remember  that  Plantagenet  lady  who  lies  buried  be- 
neath where  we  were  standing,  she  whose  dress  I  once 
copied  to  wear  at  the  ball  when  I  came  out." 

"  Don't  speak  of  that,"  he  interrupted,  "  for  then 
you  were  kissing  someone  else." 

"  It  is  not  true.  I  never  kissed  anyone  else  in  that 
way,  and  I  do  not  think  I  ever  shall.  I  kissed  a  rose, 
that's  all,  and  I  gather  that  you  have  done  as  much 


LOVE  AND  LOSS  279 

and  very  likely  a  great  deal  more.  But  it  is  of  the 
lady  I  am  speaking,  not  of  the  ball.  She  seemed  to 
come  up  from  her  grave  and  to  enter  into  me,  and 
say  something." 

"Well,  what  did  she  say,  Isobel?"  he  asked 
dreamily. 

"  That's  it,  I  don't  know,  although  she  talked  to  me 
as  one  might  to  oneself.  All  I  know  is  that  it  was  of 
trouble  and  patience  and  great  joy,  and  war  and 
tragedy  in  which  I  must  be  intimately  concerned,  and 
— after  the  tragedy — of  a  most  infinite  rest  and  bliss." 

"  I  expect  she  was  telling  you  her  own  story,  which 
seems  to  have  ended  well,"  he  replied  in  the  same 
dreamy  fashion. 

"  Yes,  I  think  so,  but  also  that  she  meant  that  her 
story  would  be  my  story,  copied  you  know,  as  I  copied 
her  dress.  Of  course  it  is  all  nonsense,  just  the  in- 
fluence of  the  place  taking  hold  of  me  when  overcome 
by  other  things,  but  at  the  time  it  seemed  very  real." 

"  So  does  a  bad  dream,"  said  Godfrey,  "  but  for  all 
that  it  isn't  real.  Still  it  is  odd  that  everything  im- 
portant seems  to  happen  to  us  within  a  few  feet  of 
that  lady's  dust,  and  I  can't  quite  disbelieve  in  spirits 
and  their  power  of  impressing  themselves  upon  us; 
I  wish  I  could.  The  strange  thing  is  that  you  should 
put  any  faith  in  them." 

"  I  don't,  though  I  admit  that  my  views  about  such 
matters  are  changing.  You  know  I  used  to  be  sure 
that  when  we  die  everything  is  over  with  us.  Now 
I  think  differently,  why  I  cannot  say." 

Then  the  subject  dropped,  because  really  they  were 
both  wrapped  in  the  great  joy  of  a  glorious  hour  and 
disinclined  to  dwell  upon  fancies  about  a  woman  who 


280  LOVE  ETERNAL 

had  died  five  hundred  years  ago,  or  on  metaphysical 
speculations.  Also  the  fear  of  what  might  follow 
upon  that  hour  haunted  them  more  vividly  than  any 
hovering  ghost,  if  such  there  were. 

"  My  dear,"  said  Isobel,  "  I  am  sorry,  but  I  must 
say  it;  I  am  sure  that  there  will  be  trouble  about  this 
business." 

"  No  doubt,  Isobel ;  there  always  is  trouble,  at  least 
where  I  am  concerned;  also  one  can't  be  happy  with- 
out paying.  But  what  does  it  matter  so  long  as  we 
stick  to  each  other?  Soon  we  shall  both  be  of  age 
and  can  do  what  we  like." 

"  One  always  thinks  that,  Godfrey,  and  yet,  some- 
how, one  never  can.  Free  will  is  a  fraud  in  that  sense 
as  in  every  other." 

"  I  have  something,  as  you  know,  enough  with  my 
pay  to  enable  us  to  get  on,  even  if  you  were  disin- 
herited, dear,  though,  of  course,  you  could  not  live 
as  you  have  been  accustomed  to  do." 

"  Oh !  don't  talk  to  me  of  money,"  she  said  im- 
patiently, "  though  for  the  matter  of  that,  I  have 
something,  too,  a  little  that  comes  to  me  from  my 
mother.  Money  won't  divide  us,  Godfrey." 

"Then  what  will,  Isobel?" 

"  Nothing  in  the  long  run,"  she  answered  with  con- 
»  viction,  "  not  even  death  itself,  since  in  a  way  we  are 
one  and  part  of  each  other  and  therefore  cannot  be 
separated  for  always,  whatever  happens  for  a  while, 
as  I  am  sure  that  something  will  happen  which  will 
make  you  leave  me." 

"  I  swear  that  I  will  never  leave  you,  I  will  die 
with  you  first,"  he  exclaimed,  springing  up. 

"  Such  oaths  have  been  made  often  and  broken — 


LOVE  AND  LOSS  281 

before  the  dawn,"  she  answered,  smiling  and  shaking 
her  head. 

"  I  swear  that  I  will  always  love  you,"  he  went  on. 

"  Ah !  now  I  believe  you,  dear !  "  she  broke  in  again. 
"  However  badly  you  may  behave,  you  will  always 
love  me  because  you  must." 

"  Well,  and  will  you  always  love  me  however  badly 
I  behave?" 

"Of  course,"  she  answered  simply,  "  because  I 
must.  Oh!  whatever  we  may  hear  about  each  other, 
we  may  be  quite  certain  that  we  still  love  each  other— 
because  we  must — and  all  your  heaven  and  hell  cannot 
make  any  difference,  no,  not  if  they  were  both  to  join 
forces  and  try  their  best.  But  that  does  not  mean 
that  necessarily  we  shall  marry  each  other,  for  I  think 
that  people  who  love  like  that  rarely  do  marry,  be- 
cause, you  see,  they  would  be  too  happy,  which  some- 
thing is  always  trying  to  prevent.  It  may  mean,  how- 
ever," she  added  reflectively,  "  that  we  shall  not  marry 
anybody  else,  though  even  that  might  happen  in  your 
case — not  in  mine.  Always  remember,  Godfrey,  that 
I  shall  never  marry  anybody  else,  not  even  if  you  took 
three  wives  one  after  the  other." 

"  Three  wives !  "  gasped  Godfrey. 

"  Yes,  why  not  ?  It  would  be  quite  natural,  wouldn't 
it,  if  you  couldn't  marry  me,  and  even  proper.  Only 
I  should  never  take  one — husband,  I  mean — not  from 
any  particular  virtue,  but  just  because  I  couldn't.  You 
see,  it  would  make  me  ill.  And  if  I  tried  I  should 
only  run  away." 

"  Oh !  stop  talking  nonsense,"  said  Godfrey,  "  when 
so  soon  you  will  have  to  go  to  see  about  those  people," 
and  he  held  out  his  arms. 


282  LOVE  ETERNAL 

She  sank  into  them,  and  for  a  little  while  they  for- 
got their  doubts  and  fears. 

The  rain  had  ceased,  and  the  triumphant  sun  shin- 
ing gloriously  through  the  west  window  of  stained 
glass,  poured  its  rays  upon  them,  dyeing  them  all  the 
colours  of  an  angel's  wings.  Also  incidentally  it  made 
them  extremely  conspicuous  in  that  dusky  church, 
of  which  they  had  all  this  while  forgotten  to  shut 
the  door. 

"  My  word !  "  said  Sir  John  to  Mr.  Knight  in  tones 
of  savage  sarcasm  as  they  surveyed  the  two  through 
this  door.  "  We've  got  here  just  at  the  right  time. 
Don't  they  look  pretty,  and  don't  you  wish  that  you 
were  his  age  and  that  was  someone  else's  daughter? 
I  tell  you,  I  do." 

Mr.  Knight  gurgled  something  in  his  inarticulate 
wrath,  for  at  that  moment  he  hated  Isobel's  father  as 
much  as  he  did  Isobel,  which  was  saying  a  great  deal. 

"  Well,  my  pretty  pair  of  cooing  turtle-doves,"  went 
on  Sir  John  in  a  sort  of  shout,  addressing  himself  to 
them,  "  be  so  good  as  to  stop  that,  or  I  think  I  shall 
wring  both  your  necks,  damn  you." 

"  Not  in  this  Holy  House,  which  these  infamous 
and  shameless  persons  have  desecrated  with  their  pro- 
fane embraces,"  interrupted  Mr.  Knight. 

"  Yes,  according  to  your  ideas  it  will  be  almost 
a  case  of  re-consecration.  You'll  have  to  write  to  the 
bishop  about  it,  Mr.  Parson.  Oh!  confound  you. 
Don't  stand  there  like  a  couple  of  stuck  pigs,  but  come 
out  of  that  and  let  us  have  a  little  chat  in  the  church- 
yard." 

Now,   at  the  first   words   that   reached   their   ears 


LOVE  AND  LOSS  283 

Godfrey  and  Isobel  had  drawn  back  from  each  other 
and  stood  side  by  side  quite  still  before  the  altar,  as 
a  pair  about  to  be  married  might  do. 

They  were  dumbfounded,  and  no  wonder.  As 
might  be  expected  Isobel  was  the  first  to  recover  her- 
self. 

"  Come,  my  dear,"  she  said  in  a  clear  voice  to 
Godfrey,  "  my  father  and  yours  wish  to  speak  to  us. 
I  am  glad  we  have  a  chance  of  explaining  matters 
so  soon." 

"  Yes,"  said  Godfrey,  but  in  a  wrathful  voice,  for 
he  felt  anger  stirring  in  him.  Perhaps  it  was  excited 
by  that  ancient  instinct  which  causes  the  male  animal 
to  resent  the  spying  upon  him  when  he  is  courting 
his  female  as  the  deadliest  of  all  possible  insults,  or 
perhaps  by  some  prescience  of  affronts  which  were 
about  to  be  offered  to  him  and  Isobel  by  these  two 
whom  he  knew  to  be  bitterly  hostile.  At  least  his 
temper  was  Vising,  and  like  most  rather  gentle-natured 
men  when  really  provoked  and  cornered,  he  could  be 
dangerous. 

"  Yes,"  he  repeated,  "  let  us  go  out  and  see  this 
matter  through." 

So  they  went,  Sir  John  and  Mr.  Knight  drawing 
back  a  little  before  them,  till  they  were  brought  to 
a  halt  by  the  horrible  memorial  which  the  former  had 
erected  over  his  wife's  grave.  Here  they  stood,  pre- 
pared for  the  encounter.  Sir  John  was  the  first  to 
take  the  lists,  saying: 

"  Perhaps  you  will  explain,  Isobel,  why  I  found 
you,  as  I  thought,  kissing  this  young  fellow — like  any 
village  slut  beneath  a  hedge." 

Isobel's  big  eyes  grew  steely  as  she  answered : 


284  LOVE  ETERNAL 

"  For  the  same  reason,  Father.  Like  your  village 
slut,  I  kissed  this  man  because  he  is  my  lover  whom 
I  mean  to  marry.  If,  as  I  gather,  you  are  not  certain 
as  to  what  you  saw,  I  will  kiss  him  again,  here  in 
front  of  you." 

"  I  have  no  doubt  you  will;  just  like  your  cheek!  " 
ejaculated  Sir  John,  taken  a  little  aback. 

Then  Mr.  Knight  took  up  the  ball,  addressing  him- 
self to  his  son: 

"  Could  you  find  no  other  place  for  your  immoral 
performances  except  the  church,  Godfrey,  and  my 
chancel,  too  ?  " 

"  No,"  answered  Godfrey,  "  because  it  was  raining 
and  we  sheltered  there.  And  what  do  you  mean  by 
your  talk  about  immorality?  Is  it  not  lawful  for  a 
man  to  love  a  woman?  I  should  have  thought  that 
the  Bible,  which  you  are  always  quoting,  would  have 
taught  you  otherwise.  Also,  once  you  were  married 
yourself  else  I  should  not  be  here,  for  which  I  am  not 
sure  that  I  thank  you ;  at  least,  I  shouldn't  were  it  not 
for  Isobel." 

For  a  moment  Mr.  Knight  could  think  of  no  answer 
to  these  arguments,  but  Sir  John  having  recovered 
his  breath,  attacked  again: 

"  Look  here,  young  fellow,  I  have  no  time  to  listen 
to  jaw  about  the  Bible  and  moral  and  immoral  and 
all  that  bosh,  which  you  can  have  out  with  your 
reverend  parent  afterwards.  I  am  a  plain  man,  I  am, 
and  want  a  plain  answer  to  a  plain  question.  Do  you 
think  that  you  are  going  to  marry  my  daughter, 
Isobel?" 

"  Such  is  my  desire  and  intention,"  replied  Godfrey, 
with  vague  recollections  of  the  baptismal  service, 


LOVE  AND  LOSS  285 

though  of  these  at  the  moment  he  was  not  aware. 

"Oh,  is  it?  Then  you  are  jolly  well  mistaken  in 
your  desire  and  intention.  Let's  make  things  clear. 
You  are  a  beggarly  youngster  who  propose  to  enter 
the  army  at  some  future  date,  which  you  may  or  may 
not  do.  And  you  have  the  impudence  to  wish  to 
marry  one  of  the  biggest  heiresses  in  England  against 
my  will." 

"  And  against  mine,"  burst  in  Mr.  Knight,  "  who 
consider  her  a  most  pernicious  young  woman,  one 
who  rejects  the  Christian  faith  and  will  lead  you  to 
perdition.  That  is  why,  when  I  chanced  to  espy  you 
in  such  a  compromising  situation,  I  hastened  to  inform 
the  lady's  father." 

"  Oh !  you  did  that,  did  you  ?  "  interposed  Isobel, 
contemplating  him  steadily.  "  Well,  I  am  glad  to 
know  who  could  have  been  so  cowardly,"  she  added 
with  withering  contempt.  "  Now  I  begin  to  wonder 
whether  a  letter  which  some  years  ago,  I  brought  to 
the  Abbey  House  to  be  forwarded  to  Godfrey,  was 
ever  posted  to  him  who  did  not  receive  it,  or  whether, 
perhaps,  it  fell  into  the  hands  of — someone  like  you." 

"It  did,"  said  Mr.  Knight.  "I  read  it  and  have 
it  to  this  day.  In  my  discretion  as  a  father  I  did  not 
consider  it  desirable  that  my  young  son  should  receive 
that  letter.  What  I  have  witnessed  this  afternoon 
showed  me  how  right  was  my  judgment." 

"  Thank  you  so  much,"  said  Isobel.  "  That  takes 
a  great  weight  off  my  mind.  Godfrey,  my  dear,  I 
apologise  to  you  for  my  doubts.  The  truth  did  occur 
to  me,  but  I  thought  it  impossible  that  a  clergyman," 
here  she  looked  again  at  Mr.  Knight,  "  could  be  a 
thief  also  who  did  not  dare  to  own  to  his  theft." 


286  LOVE  ETERNAL 

"  Never  mind  all  that,"  went  on  Sir  John  in  his 
heavy,  masterful  voice.  "  It  stands  like  this.  You," 
and  he  pointed  a  fat  finger  at  Godfrey,  "  are — well, 
I'll  tell  you  what  you  are — you're  just  a  cunning  young 
fortune-hunter.  You  found  out  that  this  property 
and  a  good  bit  besides  are  coming  to  Isobel,  and  you 
want  to  collar  the  swag,  like  you  did  that  of  the  old 
woman  out  in  Lucerne.  Well,  you  don't  do  it,  my 
boy.  I've  other  views  for  Isobel.  Do  you  think  I 
want  to  see  her  married  to — to — the  son  of  a  fellow 
like  that — a  canting  snuffler  who  prigs  letters  and 
splits  on  his  own  son?"  and  swinging  the  fat  finger 
round  he  thrust  it  almost  into  the  face  of  Mr.  Knight. 

"What  did  you  say?"  gasped  Godfrey.  "That  I 
am  a  fortune-hunter  ?  " 

"  Yes,  that's  what  I  said,  and  I'll  repeat  it  if  you 
like." 

"  Then,"  went  on  Godfrey,  speaking  in  a  thick,  low 
voice,  for  now  his  temper  had  mastered  him  thor- 
oughly, "  I  say  that  you  are  a  liar.  I  say  that  you  are  a 
base  and  vulgar  man  who  has  made  money  somehow 
and  thinks  that  this  justifies  him  in  insulting  those 
who  are  not  base  or  vulgar,  because  they  have  less 
money." 

"  You  infernal  young  scamp,"  shouted  Sir  John  in 
a  roar  like  to  that  of  an  angry  bull.  "  Do  you  dare 

to  call  me  a  liar?  Apologise  at  once,  or "  and 

he  stopped. 

"  I  do  not  apologise.  I  repeat  that  you  are  a  liar, 
the  greatest  liar  I  ever  met.  Now — or  what  ?  " 

Thus  spoke  Godfrey,  drawing  up  his  tall,  slim 
young  form  to  its  full  height,  his  dark  eyes  flashing, 
his  fine  face  alight  with  righteous  rage.  Isobel,  who 


LOVE  AND  LOSS  287 

was  standing  quite  still  and  smiling  a  little,  rather 
contemptuously,  looked  at  him  out  of  the  corners  of 
her  eyes  and  thought  that  anger  became  him  well. 
Never  before  had  he  seemed  so  handsome  to  her  ap- 
proving judgment. 

"  Or  this,"  bellowed  Sir  John,  and,  lifting  the 
tightly  rolled  umbrella  he  carried,  he  struck  Godfrey 
with  all  his  strength  upon  the  side  of  the  head. 

Godfrey  staggered,  but  fortunately  the  soft  hat  he 
was  wearing,  upon  the  brim  of  which  the  stroke  fell, 
broke  its  weight  to  some  extent,  so  that  he  was  not 
really  hurt.  Only  now  he  went  quite  mad  in  a  kind 
of  icy  way,  and,  springing  at  Sir  John  with  the  light- 
ness of  a  leopard,  dealt  him  two  blows,  one  with  his 
left  hand  and  the  next  with  his  right. 

They  were  good,  straight  blows,  for  boxing  had 
been  his  favourite  amusement  at  Sandhurst  where  he 
was  a  middleweight  champion.  The  first  caught  Sir 
John  upon  his  thick  lips  which  were  badly  cut  against 
the  teeth,  causing  him  to  stagger;  while  the  second, 
that  with  the  right,  landed  on  the  bridge  of  his  nose 
and  blacked  both  his  eyes.  This,  so  strong  and  heavy 
was  it,  notwithstanding  Sir  John's  great  weight, 
knocked  him  clean  off  his  feet.  Back  he  went,  and 
in  his  efforts  to  save  himself  gripped  Mr.  Knight  with 
one  hand  and  with  the  other  the  legs  of  the  early- 
Victorian  angel  that  surmounted  Lady  Jane's  grave 
against  which  they  were  standing.  Neither  of  these 
could  withstand  the  strain.  The  angel,  which  was 
only  pinned  by  lead-coated  rivets  to  its  base  and  the 
column  behind,  flew  from  its  supports,  as  did  Mr. 
Knight  from  his,  so  that  in  another  second,  the  men 
having  tripped  against  the  surround  of  the  grave, 


288  LOVE  ETERNAL 

all  three  rolled  upon  the  path,  the  marble  luckily  fall- 
ing clear  of  both  of  them. 

"  Now  I've  done  it,"  said  Godfrey  in  a  reflective 
voice  as  he  contemplated  the  tangled  ruin. 

"  Yes,"  exclaimed  Isobel,  "  I  think  you  have." 

Then  they  remained  grim  and  silent  while  the  pair, 
who  were  not  really  much  injured,  picked  themselves 
up  with  groans. 

"  I  am  sorry  that  I  knocked  you  down,  since  I  am 
young  and  you  are  not,"  said  Godfrey,  "  but  I  repeat 
that  you  are  a  liar,"  he  added  by  an  afterthought. 

Sir  John  spat  out  a  tooth,  and  began  to  mop  the 
blood  from  his  nose  with  a  silk  pocket-handkerchief. 

"  Oh !  you  do,  do  you  ?  "  he  said  in  a  somewhat 
subdued  voice.  "  Well,  you'll  rind  out  that  I'm  other 
things  too  before  I'm  done  with  you.  And  I  repeat 
that  you  are  a  fortune-hunting  young  rascal  and  that 
I  would  rather  see  my  daughter  dead  than  married 
to  you." 

"  And  I  say,  Godfrey,  I  would  rather  see  you  dead 
than  married  to  her !  "  broke  in  Mr.  Knight,  spitting 
out  his  words  like  an  angry  cat. 

"  I  don't  think  that  you  need  be  afraid,  Father," 
answered  Godfrey  quietly,  although  his  rage  burned 
as  fiercely  as  ever.  "  You  have  worked  this  business 
well,  and  it  seems  a  little  impossible  now,  doesn't  it? 
Listen,  Sir  John  Blake.  Not  even  for  the  sake  of 
Isobel  will  I  submit  to  such  insults.  I  will  not  give 
her  up,  but  I  swear  by  God  that  while  you  are  alive 
I  will  not  marry  Isobel,  nor  will  I  write  to  her  or 
speak  to  her  again.  After  you  are  dead,  which  I 
dare  say  will  be  before  so  very  long,"  and  he  surveyed 
the  huge,  puffy-fleshed  baronet  with  a  critical  eye, 


LOVE  AND  LOSS  289 

"  then — if  she  cares  to  wait  for  me — I  will  marry  her, 
hoping  that  in  the  meanwhile  you  may  lose  your  money 
or  dispose  of  it  as  you  like." 

Sir  John  stared,  still  mopping  his  face,  but  finding 
no  words.  He  feared  death  very  much  and  this 
prophecy  of  it,  spoken  with  such  a  ring  of  truth,  as 
though  the  speaker  knew,  frightened  him.  At  that 
moment  in  his  heart  he  cursed  the  Reverend  Mr. 
Knight  and  his  tale-bearing,  and  wished  most  earn- 
estly that  he  had  never  been  led  into  interference  with 
this  matter.  After  all  Godfrey  was  a  fine  young  man 
whom  his  daughter  cared  for,  and  might  do  well  in 
life,  and  he  had  struck  him  first  after  offering  him 
intentional  and  pre-arranged  insult.  Such  were  the 
thoughts  that  flashed  through  his  somewhat  muddled 
brain.  Also  another,  that  they  were  too  late.  The 
evil  was  done  and  never  could  be  undone. 

Then  Isobel  spoke  in  cold,  clear  tones,  saying: 
"  Godfrey  is  quite  right  and  has  been  right  all 
through.  Had  you,  Father,  and  that  man,"  and  she 
pointed  contemptuously  at  Mr.  Knight,  "  left  us  alone 
we  should  have  come  and  told  you  what  had  happened 
between  us,  and  if  you  disapproved  we  would  have 
waited  until  we  were  of  full  age  and  have  married 
as  we  should  have  been  free  to  do.  But  now  that  is 
impossible,  for  blows  have  passed  between  you.  After 
slandering  him  vilely,  you  struck  Godfrey  first, 
Father,  and  he  would  not  have  been  a  man  if  he  had 
not  struck  you  back;  indeed  I  should  have  thought 
little  of  him  afterwards.  Well,  he  has  made  an  oath, 
and  I  know  that  he  will  keep  it.  Now  I,  too,  make 
an  oath  which  certainly  I  shall  keep.  I  swear  in  the 
presence  of  both  of  you,  by  myself  and  by  Godfrey, 


290  LOVE  ETERNAL 

that  neither  in  this  world  or  in  any  other,  should  I 
live  again  and  have  remembrance,  will  I  marry  any 
man  or  exchange  tendernesses  with  any  man,  except 
himself.  So  all  your  plans  come  to  nothing;  yes,  you 
have  brought  all  this  misery  upon  us  for  nothing,  and 
if  you  want  to  found  a  great  family,  as  I  know  you 
do,  you  had  better  marry  again  yourself  and  let  me 
go  my  way.  In  any  case,  if  I  should  survive  you  and 
should  Godfrey  live,  I  will  marry  him  after  your 
death,  even  if  we  have  to  wait  until  we  are  old  to 
do  so.  As  for  your  fortune,  I  care  nothing  for  it, 
being  quite  ready  to  work  in  the  world  with  the  help 
of  the  little  that  I  have." 

She  paused  as  though  for  an  answer,  but  none 
came,  for  if  Sir  John  had  been  frightened  before,  now 
he  was  terrified  of  this  outraged  young  woman  who, 
tall,  commanding  and  stern-eyed,  looked  to  him  like 
an  avenging  angel. 

"  There  doesn't  seem  much  more  to  say,  does 
there?"  she  went  on,  "except  that  I  think,  Father, 
you  had  better  telegraph  to  your  guests  that  you  are 
not  well  and  cannot  receive  them,  for  I  won't.  So 
good-bye,  dearest  Godfrey.  I  shall  remember  all  that 
you  have  said,  and  you  will  remember  all  that  I  have 
said,  and  as  I  believe,  we  shall  live  to  meet  again  one 
day.  Meanwhile,  don't  think  too  bitterly  of  my 
father,  or  of  your  own,  because  they  have  acted 
according  to  their  natures  and  lights,  though  where 
these  will  lead  them  I  am  sure  I  do  not  know.  Good- 
bye, dearest,  dearest  Godfrey.  Do  your  best  in  the 
world  and  keep  out  of  troubles  if  you  can.  Oh!  what 
a  lot  we  shall  have  to  tell  each  other  when  we  meet 
again." 


LOVE  AND  LOSS  291 

Then  before  them  both  she  kissed  him,  and  he 
kissed  her  back,  saying: 

"  I  will  remember.  I  am  glad  you  think  there  was 
nothing  else  to  be  done.  God  bless  you,  Isobel.  Make 
the  best  of  your  life,  as  I  will  try  to  do  with  mine. 
Good-bye." 

"  Good-bye,  dear,"  she  answered,  "  think  of  me 
always  when  you  wake  and  before  you  go  to  sleep,  as 
I  will  think  of  you." 

Then  she  turned  and  went,  never  looking  behind 
her. 

Godfrey  watched  her  tall  form  vanish  through  the 
churchyard  gate  and  over  the  slope  of  a  little  hill  that 
lay  between  it  and  Hawk's  Hall,  and  that  was  the  last 
sight  he  had  of  her  for  many  a  year.  When  she  was 
quite  lost  to  view,  he  spoke  to  the  two  men  who  still 
stood  irresolute  before  him. 

"  Isobel  I  shall  meet  again,"  he  said,  "  but  not 
either  of  you,  for  I  have  done  with  you  both.  It  is 
not  for  me  to  judge  you.  Judge  yourself  and  be 
judged." 

Then  he  turned,  too,  and  went. 

"  It's  all  right,"  said  Sir  John  to  Mr.  Knight,  "  that 
is,  he  won't  marry  her,  at  any  rate  at  present,  so  I 
suppose  that  we  should  both  be  pleased,  if  anyone  can 
be  pleased  with  cut  lips  and  two  black  eyes.  And  yet 
somehow  we  seem  to  have  made  a  mess  of  it,"  and  he 
glanced  at  the  shattered  marble  statue  of  the  Vic- 
torian angel  of  which  both  the  wings  were  broken 
off. 

"  We  have  done  our  duty,"   replied   Mr.   Knight, 


292  LOVE  ETERNAL 

pursing  up  his  thin  lips,  "  and  at  least  Godfrey  is  freed 
from  your  daughter." 

"  I'm  not  so  sure  of  that,  my  reverend  friend.  But 
of  one  thing  I  am  sure,  that  I  am  freed  from  her  also, 
or  rather  that  she  is  freed  from  me.  Also  you  are 
freed  from  him.  Don't  you  understand,  you  vicious 
little  viper,  that  you  will  never  see  that  young  man 
again,  and  that  thanks  to  your  cursed  advice  I  shall 
never  see  my  daughter  again,  at  least  not  really  ?  What 
devil  was  it  that  sent  you  to  play  upon  my  weaknesses 
and  ambition?  If  you  had  left  things  alone  and  they 
had  come  to  me  in  a  natural  way  there  would  have 
been  a  row,  of  course,  but  I  dare  say  it  would  have 
ended  all  right.  But  you  told  me  how  to  work  on  him, 
and  I  overdid  the  part.  Now  nothing  can  ever  be  all 
right  for  either  of  us,  or  for  them  either,  until  we  are 
both  dead.  Do  you  understand  also  that  we  have  made 
two  young  people  who  should  have  been  the  supports 
of  our  old  age  desire  above  everything  our  deaths 
because  we  have  given  them  cause  to  hate  us,  and  since 
they  are  of  the  sort  that  keep  their  word,  only  by  our 
deaths  can  they  become  free,  or,  at  any  rate,  by  mine  ? 
Well,  it  doesn't  matter  what  you  understand,  you  little 
bigot,  but  I  know  what  I  do." 

"  I  have  done  my  duty,"  repeated  Mr.  Knight  sul- 
lenly, "  and  I  don't  care  what  happens  afterwards. 
'  Fiat  justitia  mat  ccelumf  "  he  added  in  the  Latin  tag. 

"  Oh,  yes.  Justice  may  say  fie  and  the  sky  may  be 
rude,  and  anything  else  may  happen,  but  we've  dished 
our  lives  and  theirs,  my  friend,  and — damn  you !  get 
out  of  my  sight.  Rows  I  am  accustomed  to  with  Tsobel 
and  others,  but  this  isn't  a  row,  it's  an  earthquake;  it's 


LOVE  AND  LOSS  293 

a  catastrophe,  for  which  I  have  to  thank  you.  Lord ! 
how  my  mouth  hurts,  and  I  can't  see  out  of  my  right 
eye.  Talk  of  a  mailed  fist,  that  young  beggar  has  one 
like  a  pole-axe.  Now  I  must  go  to  telegraph  to  all 
those  people.  Temporary  indisposition,  yes — tem- 
porary indisposition,  that's  it.  Good-bye,  my  holy 
friend.  You  won't  do  as  much  mischief  in  one  day 
again  in  a  hurry,  spy  as  hard  as  you  like." 

Then  Sir  John  departed,  nursing  his  cut  lips  with 
one  hand  and  his  broken  umbrella  with  the  other. 
Mr.  Knight  watched  him  go,  and  said  to  himself : 
"  I  thought  that  I  disliked  the  daughter,  but  the 
father  is  worse.  Offensive,  purse-proud,  vulgar  beast ! 
How  dare  he  speak  to  me  like  that!  I'm  glad,  yes, 
I'm  glad  Godfrey  knocked  him  down,  though  I  sup- 
pose there  will  be  a  scandal.  Well,  my  hands  are 
clean ;  I  have  done  my  duty,  and  I  must  not  complain 
if  it  is  unpleasant,  since  I  have  dragged  Godfrey  back 
from  the  mouth  of  the  pit.  I  think  I'll  take  a  walk 
to  steady  my  nerves;  it  may  be  as  well  not  to  meet 
Godfrey  again  just  now." 


CHAPTER  XVII 

INDIA 

ON  his  road  to  the  house  to  pack  his  portmanteau 
Godfrey  went  a  little  way  round  to  arrange  with  a 
blacksmith,  generally  known  as  Tom,  who  jobbed 
out  a  pony-trap,  to  drive  him  to  the  station  to  catch 
the  7.15  train.  The  blacksmith  remarked  that  they 
would  have  to  hurry,  and  set  to  work  to  put  the  pony 
in,  while  Godfrey  ran  on  to  the  Abbey  House  and 
hurriedly  collected  his  clothes.  He  got  them  packed 
and  down  into  the  hall  just  as  the  trap  arrived. 

As  he  was  entering  it  the  servant  put  a  letter  into 
his  hand  which  she  said  had  come  for  him  by  the 
afternoon  post..  He  thrust  it  into  his  pocket  unlooked 
at,  and  off  they  went  at  the  pony's  best  pace. 

"  You  are  going  away  oncommon  quick,  Master 
Godfrey.  Coming  back  to  these  parts  soon?  "  queried 
the  blacksmith. 

"  No,  not  for  a  long  while,  Tom." 

"  I  think  there  must  have  been  lightning  with  that 
rain,"  went  on  Tom,  after  a  pause,  "  although  I  heard 
no  thunder.  Else  how  ever  did  that  marble  angel 
over  poor  Lady  Jane's  grave  come  down  with  such  a 
smash  ?  " 

Godfrey  glanced  at  him,  but  Tom  remained  im- 
perturbable and  went  on: 

"  They  du  say  it  wor  a  wunnerful  smash,  what 
broke  off  both  the  wings  and  nearly  flattened  out 
some  as  stood  by.  Rum  thing,  Master  Godfrey,  that 

294 


INDIA  295 

the  lightning  should  have  picked  out  the  grave  of  so 
good  a  lady  to  hit ;  ondiscriminating  thing,  lightning  is." 

"  Stop  talking  humbug,  Tom.  Were  you  there  ?  " 
asked  Godfrey. 

"  Well,  not  exactly  there,  Master  Godfrey,  but  I 
and  one  or  two  others  was  nigh,  having  heard  voices 
louder  than  the  common,  just  looking  over  the  church- 
yard wall,  to  tell  truth." 

"  Oh !  "  ejaculated  Godfrey,  and  Tom  continued  in 
a  reflective  voice: 

"  My !  they  were  two  beuties,  what  you  gave  that 
fat  old  devil  of  a  squire.  If  he'd  been  a  bull  instead 
of  only  roaring  like  one,  they'd  have  brought  him 
down,  to  say  nothing  of  parson  and  the  angel." 

"  I  couldn't  help  it,  Tom.     I  was  mad." 

"  And  no  wonder,  after  being  crumped  on  the  nut 
with  a  tight  umbrella.  Why,  I'd  have  done  the  same 
myself,  baronite  or  no  baronite.  Oh!  there's  no  need 
to  explain;  I  knows  everything  about  it,  and  so  does 
every  babe  in  the  village  by  now,  not  to  mention  the 
old  women.  Master  Godfrey,  you  take  my  advice, 
the  next  time  you  go  a-courtin'  shut  the  door  behind 
you,  which  I  always  made  a  point  o'  doing  when  I 
was  young.  Being  passing  that  way,  I  seed  parson 
peeping  in,  and  knowing  you  was  there,  guessed  why. 
Truth  is  I  came  to  warn  you  after  he'd  gone  up  to 
the  Hall,  but  seein'  how  you  was  engaged,  thought 
it  a  pity  to  interrupt,  though  now  I  wish  I  had." 

Godfrey  groaned;  there  was  nothing  to  say. 

"  Well,  all  the  soot's  in  the  cooking-pot  now,  so 
to  speak,"  proceeded  Tom  blandly,  "  and  we're  down- 
right sad  about  it,  we  are,  for  as  my  missus  was  say- 
ing, you'd  make  a  pretty  pair.  But,  Lord,  Master 


296  LOVE  ETERNAL 

Godfrey,  don't  you  take  it  too  much  to  heart,  for  she's 
an  upright  young  lady,  she  is,  and  steadfast.  Or  if 
she  ain't,  there's  plenty  of  others;  also  one  day  follows 
another,  as  the  saying  goes,  and  the  worst  of  old 
varmints  don't  live  for  ever.  But  parson,  he  beats 
me,  and  you  his  son,  so  they  tell,  though  I  never 
could  think  it  myself.  If  he  ain't  the  meanest  ferret 
I  ever  clapped  eyes  on,  may  the  old  mare  fall  down 
and  break  my  neck.  Well,  he'll  hear  about  it,  I  can 
promise  him,  especially  if  he  meets  my  missus  what's 
got  a  tongue  in  her  head,  and  is  a  chapel  woman  into 
the  bargain.  Lord !  there  comes  the  train.  Don't  you 
fear,  we'll  catch  her.  Hold  tight,  Master  Godfrey, 
and  be  ready  to  jump  out.  No,  no,  there  ain't  nothing 
to  pay.  I'll  stick  it  on  to  parson's  fare  next  time  I've 
druve  him.  Good-bye,  Master  Godfrey,  and  God 
bless  you,  if  only  for  that  there  right  and  left  which 
warmed  my  heart  to  see,  and  mind  ye,"  he  shouted 
after  him,  "  there's  more  young  women  in  the  world 
than  ye  meets  in  an  afternoon's  walk,  and  one  nail 
drives  another  out,  as  being  a  smith  by  trade  I  knows 
well." 

Godfrey  bundled  into  an  empty  carriage  with  his 
portmanteau  and  hi's  coat,  and  covered  his  face  with 
his  hands  that  he  might  see  no  more  of  that  accursed 
station  whence  he  seemed  always  to  be  departing  in 
trouble.  So  everything  had  been  overheard  and  seen, 
and  doubtless  the  story  would  travel  far  and  wide. 
Poor  Isobel! 

As  a  matter  of  fact  it  did,  but  it  was  not  Isobel 
who  suffered,  since  public  sympathy  was  strong  on  the 
side  of  her  and  of  her  lover.  The  indignation  of  the 
neighbourhood  concentrated  itself  upon  the  squire  and 


INDIA  297 

the  parson,  especially  the  latter.  Indeed  the  village 
showed  its  sympathy  with  the  victims  and  its  wrath 
with  the  oppressors,  by  going  on  strike.  Few  beaters 
turned  up  at  Sir  John's  next  shooting  party,  and  on  the 
following  Sunday  Mr.  Knight  preached  to  empty 
benches,  a  vacuum  that  continued  from  week  to  week. 
The  end  of  it  was  he  became  so  unpopular  and  his 
strained  relations  with  Sir  John  grew  so  notorious 
that  the  bishop,  who  like  everyone  else  knew  the  whole 
story,  gently  suggested  to  him  that  a  change  of  livings 
would  be  to  his  advantage;  also  to  that  of  the  church 
in  Monk's  Acre  and  its  neighbourhood. 

So  Mr.  Knight  departed  to  another  parish  in  a 
remote  part  of  the  diocese  which,  having  been  inun- 
dated by  the  sea,  was  almost  devoid  of  inhabitants, 
and  saw  the  Abbey  and  Hawk's  Hall  no  more. 

In  searching  his  pockets  for  matches,  Godfrey  found 
the  letter  which  had  been  given  to  him  as  he  left  the 
Abbey.  He  knew  the  writing  on  the  envelope  at  once, 
and  was  minded  not  to  open  it,  for  this  and  the  foreign 
stamp  told  him  that  it  came  from  Madame  Riennes. 
Still  curiosity,  or  a  desire  to  take  his  mind  off  the 
miseries  by  which  it  was  beset,  prevailed,  and  he  did 
open  the  envelope  and  read.  It  ran  thus: 

"  Ah !  my  little  friend,  my  godson  in  the  speerit, 
Godfrey, 

I  daresay  you  thought  that  poor  old  Madame  was 
dead,  gone  to  join  the  Celestials,  because  you  have  not 
heard  from  her  for  so  long  a  while.  Not  a  bit,  my  little 
Godfrey,  though  perhaps  I  should  not  call  you  little,  since 
my  crystal  shows  me  that  you  have  grown  taller  even 
than  you  were  in  the  old  days  at  Lucerne,  and  much 
broader,  quite  a  gOQd-mad§  man  and  nice  to  look  at. 


298  LOVE  ETERNAL 

Well,  my  Godfrey,  I  hear  things  about  you  sometimes, 
for  the  most  part  from  the  speerit  called  Eleanor  who, 
I  warn  you,  has  a  great  bone  to  pick  with  you.  Be- 
cause, you  see,  people  do  not  change  so  much  as  you 
think  when  they  get  to  the  other  side.  So  a  woman 
remains  a  woman,  and  being  a  woman  she  stays  jealous, 
and  does  not  like  it  when  her  affinity  turns  the  back  on 
her,  as  you  have  done  on  Eleanor.  Therefore  she  will 
give  you  a  bad  trick  if  she  can,  just  as  a  woman  would 
upon  the  earth.  Also  I  hear  of  you  sometimes  from 
Miss  Ogilvy  or,  rather,  her  speerit,  for  she  is  as  fond 
of  you  as  ever,  so  fond  that  I  think  you  must  have 
mixed  up  together  in  a  previous  life,  because  otherwise 
there  is  nothing  to  account  for  it.  She  tries  to  protect 
you  from  Eleanor  the  indignant,  with  whom  she  has,  I 
gather,  much  row. 

"  Now  for  my  message,  which  come  to  me  from  all 
these  speerits.  I  hear  you  have  done  very  well  in  what 
they  call  examinations,  and  have  before  you  a  shining 
future.  But  do  not  think  that  you  will  be  happy,  my 
Godfrey,  for  you  will  not  get  that  girl  you  want  for  a 
long,  long  while,  and  then  only  for  the  shortest  of  time, 
just  enough  to  kiss  and  say,  '  Oh!  my  pretty,  how  nice 
you  are ! '  And  then  au  revoir  to  the  world  of  speerits. 
Meanwhile,  being  a  little  fool,  you  will  go  empty  and 
hungry,  since  you  are  not  one  of  those  who  hate  the 
woman,  which,  after  all,  is  the  best  thing  in  life  for  the 
man  while  he  is  young,  like,  so  the  spirits  tell  me,  does 
your  dear  papa.  And  oh!  how  plenty  this  woman  fruit 
hang  on  every  tree,  so  why  not  pluck  and  eat  before  the 
time  come,  when  you  cannot,  because  if  you  still  have 
appetite  those  nice  plums  turn  your  stomach?  So  you 
have  a  bad  time  before  you,  my  Godfrey,  waiting  for  the 
big  fat  plum  far  away  which  you  cannot  see  or  touch 
and  much  less  taste,  while  the  other  nice  plums  fall  into 
different  hands,  or  wither — wither,  waiting  to  be  eaten. 


INDIA  299 

"  At  end,  when  you  get  your  big,  fat  plum,  just  as  you 
set  your  teeth  in  it,  oh!  something  blow  it  out  of  your 
mouth,  I  know  not  what,  the  speerits  will  not  say,  per- 
haps because  they  do  not  know,  for  they  have  not  presci- 
ence of  all  things.  But  of  this  be  sure,  my  Godfrey, 
something  blow  it  out  of  your  mouth.  Also  remember 
when  that  happen,  that  it  is  your  own  fault,  for  had  you 
trusted  to  your  godmamma  Riennes  it  never  would  have 
chanced,  since  she  would  have  shown  you  how  to  get 
your  plum  and  eat  it  to  the  stone  and  then  throw  away 
the  stone  and  get  other  plums  and  be  happy— happy  and 
full  instead  of  empty.  Well,  so  it  is,  and  as  I  must  I  tell 
you.  There  is  but  one  hope  for  you,  unless  you  would 
go  sorrowful.  To  come  back  to  your  godmamma,  who 
will  teach  you  how  to  walk  and  be  happy — happy  and  get 
you  all  you  want.  Also,  since  she  is  now  poor,  you  would 
do  well  to  send  her  a  little  money  to  this  address  in 
Italy,  since  that  old  humbug  of  a  Pasteur,  whom  she  can- 
not harm  because  of  the  influences  round  him,  still  pre- 
vents her  from  returning  to  Switzerland,  where  she  has 
friends.  Now  that  big  plum,  it  is  very  nice  and  you 
desire  it  much.  Come  to  your  godmamma  and  she  will 
show  you  how  to  get  it  off  the  tree  quickly.  Yes,  within 
one  year.  Or  do  not  come  and  it  will  hang  there  for 
many  winters  and  shrivel  as  plums  do,  and  at  last  one 
bite  and  it  gone.  And  then,  my  godson,  then,  my  dear 
Godfrey — well,  perhaps  I  will  tell  you  the  rest  another 
time.  You  poor  silly  boy,  who  will  not  understand  that 
the  more  you  get  the  more  you  will  always  have. 
"  Your  Godmamma, 

"  Who  love  you  still  although  you  treat  her  so  badly, 
"  THE  COUNTESS  OF  RIENNES. 

"(Ah!  you  did  not  know  I  had  that  title,  did  you,  but 
in  the  speerit  world  I  have  others  which  are  much 
higher.)" 


300  LOVE  ETERNAL 

Godfrey  thrust  this  precious  epistle  back  into  his 
pocket  with  a  feeling  of  physical  and  mental  sickness. 
How  did  this  horrible  woman  know  so  much  about 
him  and  his  affairs,  and  why  did  she  prophesy  such 
dreadful  things?  Further,  if  her  knowledge  was  so 
accurate,  although  veiled  in  her  foreign  metaphor, 
why  should  not  her  prophecies  be  accurate  also?  And 
if  they  were,  why  should  he  be  called  upon  to  suffer 
so  many  things? 

He  could  find  no  answer  to  these  questions,  but 
afterwards  he  sent  her  letter  to  the  Pasteur,  who 
in  due  course  returned  it  with  some  upright  and 
manly  comments  both  upon  the  epistle  itself  and 
the  story  of  his  troubles,  which  Godfrey  had  de- 
tailed to  him.  Amongst  much  else  he  wrote  in 
French : 

"  You  suffer  and  you  cannot  understand  why,  my  dear 
boy.  Nor  do  I,  but  it  is  truth  that  all  who  are  worth 
anything  are  called  upon  to  suffer,  to  what  end  we  do  not 
know.  Nothing  of  value  is  gained  except  by  suffering. 
Why,  again,  we  do  not  know.  This  wretched  woman  is 
right  in  a  way  when  she  refers  all  solutions  to  another 
world,  only  her  other  world  is  one  that  is  bad,  and  her 
solutions  are  very  base.  Be  sure  that  there  are  other 
and  better  ones  that  we  shall  learn  in  due  time,  when 
this  little  sun  has  set  for  us.  For  it  will  rise  elsewhere, 
Godfrey,  in  a  brighter  sky.  Meanwhile,  do  not  be  fright- 
ened by  her  threats,  for  even  if  they  should  all  be  true, 
to  those  evils  which  she  prophesies  there  is,  be  sure, 
another  interpretation.  As  I  think  one  of  your  poets 
has  said,  we  odd  our  figures  until  they  come  even.  So 
go  your  way  and  keep  as  upright  as  you  can,  and  have 
no  fear  since  God  is  over  all,  not  the  devil." 


INDIA  301 

Thus  preached  the  Pasteur,  and  what  he  said  gave 
Godfrey  the  greatest  comfort.  Still,  being  young, 
he  made  one  mistake.  He  did  send  Madame  Riennes 
some  money,  partly  out  of  pity — ten  pounds  in  a 
postal  order  without  any  covering  letter,  a  folly  that 
did  not  tend  to  a  cessation  of  her  epistolatory  efforts. 

On  reaching  town  Godfrey  went  straight  to  Hamp- 
stead.  There  to  his  surprise  he  found  all  prepared  for 
his  reception. 

"  I  was  expecting  you,  my  dear,"  said  Mrs.  Parsons, 
"  and  even  have  a  little  bit  extra  in  the  house  in  case 
you  should  come." 

"  Why,  when  I  told  you  I  had  gone  home  for  a 
month?"  asked  Godfrey. 

"  Why  ?  For  the  same  reason  as  1  knows  that  oil 
and  vinegar  won't  abide  mixed  in  the  same  bottle. 
I  was  sure  enough  that  being  a  man  grown,  you  and 
your  father  could  never  get  on  together  in  one  house. 
But  perhaps  there  is  something  else  in  it  too,"  she 
added  doubtfully. 

Then  Godfrey  told  her  that  there  was  something 
else,  and  indeed  all  about  the  business. 

"  Well,  there  you  are,  and  there's  nothing  to  be 
said,  or  at  least  so  much  that  it  comes  to  the  same 
thing,"  remarked  Mrs.  Parsons,  in  a  reflective  tone, 
when  he  had  finished  his  story.  "  But  what  I  want 
to  know,"  she  went  on,  "  is  why  these  kind  of  things 
happen.  You  two — I  mean  you  and  Miss  Isobel — 
are  just  fitted  to  each  other,  appointed  together  by 
Nature,  so  to  speak,  and  fond  as  a  couple  of  doves 
upon  a  perch.  So  why  shouldn't  you  take  each  other 
and  have  done?  What  is  there  to  come  between  a 
young  man  and  a  young  woman  such  as  you  are?  " 


302  LOVE  ETERNAL 

"  I  don't  know,"  groaned  Godfrey. 

"  No,  nor  don't  I ;  and  yet  something  does  come 
between.  What's  the  meaning  of  it  all?  Why  do 
things  always  go  cussed  in  this  'ere  world?  Is  there 
a  devil  about  what  manages  it,  or  is  it  just  chance? 
Why  shouldn't  people  have  what  they  want  and  when 
it's  wanted,  instead  of  being  forced  to  wait  until  per- 
haps it  isn't,  or  can't  be  enjoyed,  or  often  enough  to 
lose  it  altogether  ?  You  can't  answer,  and  nor  can't  I ; 
only  at  times  I  do  think,  notwithstanding  all  my 
Christian  teaching  and  hundreds  and  hundreds  of 
your  father's  sermons,  that  the  devil,  he's  top-dog 
here.  And  as  for  that  there  foreign  woman  whose 
letter  you've  read  to  me,  she's  his  housemaid.  Not  but 
what  I'm  sure  it  will  all  come  right  at  last,"  she  added, 
with  an  attempt  at  cheerfulness. 

"  I  hope  so,"  replied  Godfrey,  without  conviction, 
and  went  to  bed. 

Presently  he  descended  from  his  room  again,  bear- 
ing a  pill-box  in  which  was  enclosed  a  certain  ring 
that  years  before  he  had  bought  at  Lucerne,  a  ring 
set  with  two  hearts  of  turquoise. 

"  I  promised  not  to  write,"  he  said,  "  but  you  might 
address  this  to  her.  She'll  know  what  it  is,  for  I  told 
her  about  it." 

"  Yes,"  said  Mrs.  Parsons,  "  the  young  lady  shall 
have  that  box  of  pills.  Being  upset,  it  may  do  her 
good." 

In  due  course  Isobel  did  have  it ;  also  the  box  came 
back  addressed  to  Mrs.  Parsons.  In  it  was  another 
ring,  a  simple  band  of  ancient  gold — as  a  matter  of 
fact,  it  was  Roman,  a  betrothal  ring  of  two  thousand 


INDIA  303 

years  ago.  Round  it  was  a  scrap  of  paper  on  which 
was  written : 

"This  was  dug  up  in  a  grave.  My  great-grand- 
mother gave  it  to  my  great-grandfather  when  they 
became  engaged  about  a  hundred  years  ago,  and  he 
wore  it  all  his  life,  as  in  a  bygone  age  someone  else 
had  done.  Now  the  great-granddaughter  gives  it  to 
another.  Let  him  wear  it  all  his  life,  whatever  hap- 
pens to  her,  or  to  him.  Then  let  it  go  to  the  grave 
again,  perhaps  to  be  worn  by  others  far  centuries 
hence." 

Godfrey  understood  and  set  it  on  the  third  finger 
of  his  left  hand,  where  it  remained  night  and  day, 
and  year  by  year. 

So  that  matter  ended,  and  afterwards  came  silence 
and  darkness  which  endured  for  ten  years  or  more. 
From  his  father  he  heard  nothing,  nor  on  his  part  did 
he  ever  write  to  him  again.  Indeed  the  first  news 
concerning  him  which  reached  Godfrey  was  that  of 
his  death  which  happened  some  seven  years  later, 
apparently  after  a  brief  illness.  Even  of  this  he 
would  not  have  learned,  since  no  one  took  the  trouble 
to  put  it  in  any  paper  that  he  saw,  had  it  not  chanced 
that  the  Rev.  Mr.  Knight  died  intestate,  and  that 
therefore  his  small  belongings  descended  to  Godfrey 
as  his  natural  heir.  With  them  were  a  number  of 
papers,  among  which  in  the  after  days  Godfrey  found 
the  very  letter  that  Isobel  wrote  to  him  which  his 
father  "  posted  "  in  his  desk. 

For  his  son  there  was  no  word,  a  circumstance 
that  showed  the  implacability  of  this  man's  character. 
Notwithstanding  his  continual  profession  of  the  high- 


304  LOVE  ETERNAL 

est  Christian  principles  he  could  never  forget  or  for- 
give, and  this  although  it  was  he  who  was  in  fault. 
For  what  wrong  had  Godfrey  done  to  him  in  loving 
a  woman  whom  he  did  not  chance  to  like  ?  So  he  died 
silent,  bearing  his  resentment  to  the  grave.  And  yet 
some  odd  sense  of  justice  prevented  him  from  robbing 
Godfrey  of  his  little  inheritance,  something  under  two 
thousand  pounds,  that  came  on  a  policy  of  insurance 
and  certain  savings,  a  sum  which  in  after  years  when 
money  was  plentiful  with  him  Godfrey  appointed  to 
the  repair  and  beautifying  of  the  Abbey  Church  at 
Monk's  Acre. 

Strangely  enough,  although  from  his  childhood  they 
had  been  always  estranged,  Godfrey  felt  this  conduct 
of  his  father  very  much  indeed.  It  seemed  dreadful 
to  him  that  he  should  vanish  thus  into  the  darkness, 
taking  his  wrath  with  him;  and  often  he  wondered 
if  it  still  animated  him  there.  Also  he  wondered 
what  could  be  the  possible  purpose  of  it  all,  and  in- 
deed why  his  father  was  so  fashioned  that  he  could 
grow  venomous  over  such  a  matter.  To  all  of  which 
questions  no  answer  came,  although  one  suggested 
itself  to  him — namely,  that  he  was  the  victim  of  some 
hereditary  taint,  and  therefore  not  in  fact  to  blame. 

In  the  case  of  Isobel  the  darkness  was  equally  dense, 
for  both  of  them  kept  their  word,  and  with  the  single 
exception  of  the  episode  of  the  exchange  of  rings, 
neither  attempted  to  communicate  with  the  other 
directly  or  indirectly.  From  Mrs.  Parsons  he  heard 
that  Hawk's  Hall  was  shut  up,  and  that  Sir  John  and 
his  daughter  lived  mostly  in  London  or  at  a  place  that 
the  former  had  bought  in  Scotland.  Once  indeed 
Mrs.  Parsons  did  write,  or  got  someone  else  to  write, 


INDIA  305 

to  him  that  she  had  seen  Isobel  drive  past  her  in  the 
street,  and  that  she  looked  well,  though  rather  "  stern 
and  quiet-like." 

That  was  all  the  news  Godfrey  had  of  Isobel  during 
those  ten  years,  since  she  was  not  a  person  who  ad- 
vertised her  movements  in  the  papers,  although  for 
her  sake  he  became  a  great  student  of  society  gossip. 
Also  he  read  with  care  all  announcements  of  engage- 
ments and  marriages  in  The  Times,  and  the  deaths, 
too,  for  the  matter  of  that,  but  happily  quite  without 
result.  Indeed  in  view  of  her  declaration  he  ought 
to  have  been,  and,  in  fact,  was,  ashamed  of  his  re- 
search; but  then,  who  could  be  quite  sure  of  anything 
in  this  world? 

Sir  John,  he  knew,  was  living,  because  from  time 
to  time  he  saw  his  name  in  lists  of  subscriptions  of 
a  sort  that  appear  under  royal  patronage  and  are 
largely  advertised. 

So  between  these  two  swung  a  veil  of  darkness, 
although,  had  he  but  known  it,  this  was  not  nearly 
so  impenetrable  to  Isobel  as  to  himself.  Somehow-r— 
possibly  Arthur  Thorburn  had  friends  with  whom  he 
corresponded  in  England  who  knew  Isobel — she  ac- 
quired information  as  to  every  detail  of  his  career. 
Indeed  when  he  came  to  learn  everything  he  was 
absolutely  amazed  at  the  particulars  with  which  she 
was  acquainted,  whereof  there  were  certain  that  he 
would  have  much  preferred  to  have  kept  to  himself. 
But  she  had  them  all,  with  dates  and  surrounding 
circumstances  and  the  rest;  thousands  of  miles  of 
ocean  had  been  no  bar  to  her  searching  gaze. 

For  his  part  he  was  not  without  consolations,  since, 
strangely  enough,  he  never  felt  as  if  she  were  lost  to 


306  LOVE  ETERNAL 

him,  or  indeed  far  away;  it  was  always  as  though 
she  were  in  the  next  room,  or  at  any  rate  in  the  next 
street.  There  are  individuals  of  sensitive  mind,  and 
he  was  one  of  them,  who  know  well  enough  when 
such  a  total  loss  has  occurred.  It  has  been  well  said 
that  the  dead  are  never  really  dead  to  us  until  they 
are  forgotten,  and  the  same  applies  to  the  living. 
While  they  remember  us,  they  are  never  so  very  far 
away,  and  what  is  more  we,  or  some  of  us,  are  quite 
aware  if  they  have  ceased  to  remember,  for  then  the 
door  is  shut  and  the  doorway  built  up  and  our  hearts 
tell  us  that  this  has  been  done. 

In  Godfrey's  case  with  Isobel,  not  only  did  the 
doorway  remain  unfilled — the  door  itself  was  always 
ajar.  Although  seas  divided  them  and  over  these  no 
whisper  came,  yet  he  felt  her  thought  leaping  to  him 
across  the  world.  Especially  did  this  happen  at  night 
when  he  laid  himself  down  to  sleep,  perhaps  because 
then  his  mind  was  most  receptive,  and  since  their 
hours  of  going  to  rest  must  have  been  different,  he 
being  in  India  and  she  in  England,  she  could  scarcely 
have  been  reflecting  on  him  as  he  fondly  believed,  at 
the  moment  when  she,  too,  entered  into  the  world 
called  sleep. 

Therefore,  either  it  was  all  imagination  or  he 
caught  her  waking  thoughts,  or  perhaps  those  that 
haunted  her  upon  this  border  land  were  delayed  until 
his  subtler  being  could  interpret  them.  Who  knows? 
At  least,  unless  something  had  happened  to  disturb 
him,  those  nights  were  rare  when  as  he  was  shutting 
his  eyes,  Godfrey  did  not  seem  to  be  sensible  of 
Isobel's  presence.  At  any  rate,  he  knew  that  she  had 
not  forgotten ;  he  knew  that  somewhere  in  the  vast 


INDIA  307 

world  she  was  ever  thinking  of  him  with  more  in- 
tensity than  she  thought  of  any  other  man  or  thing. 
And  during  all  those  lonely  years  this  knowledge  or 
belief  was  his  greatest  comfort. 

Not  that  Godfrey's  life  in  India  was  in  any  way 
unhappy.  On  the  contrary  it  was  a  full  and  active 
life.  He  worked  hard  at  his  profession  and  succeeded 
in  it  to  a  limited  extent,  and  he  had  his  friends, 
especially  his  great  friend  Arthur  Thorburn,  who  al- 
ways clung  to  him.  He  had  his  flirtations  also ;  being 
a  man  of  susceptibility  who  was  popular  with  women, 
how  could  they  be  avoided?  For  above  all  things 
Godfrey  was  a  man,  not  a  hermit  or  a  saint  or  an 
aesthete,  but  just  a  man  with  more  gifts  of  a  sort  than 
have  some  others.  He  lived  the  life  of  the  rest,  he 
hunted,  he  shot  tigers,  doing  those  things  that  the 
Anglo-Indian  officer  does,  but  all  the  same  he  studied. 
Whether  it  were  of  his  trade  of  soldiering,  or  of  the 
natives,  or  of  Eastern  thought  and  law,  he  was  always 
learning  something,  till  at  last  he  knew  a  great  deal, 
often  he  wondered  to  what  end. 

And  yet,  with  all  his  friends  and  acquaintances,  in 
a  way  he  remained  a  very  lonely  man,  as  those  who 
are  a  little  out  of  the  ordinary  often  do.  In  the  com- 
mon groove  we  rub  against  the  other  marbles  running 
down  it,  but  once  we  leap  over  its  edge,  then  where 
are  we?  We  cannot  wander  off  into  space  because  of 
the  attraction  of  the  earth  that  is  so  near  to  us,  and 
yet  we  are  alone  in  the  air  until  with  a  bump  we  meet 
our  native  ground.  Therefore  for  the  most  of  us  the 
groove  is  much  better.  And  yet  some  who  leave  it 
have  been  carried  elsewhere,  if  only  for  a  little  while, 
like  St.  Paul  into  the  third  heaven. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

FRANCE — AND  AFTER 

NOTHING  so  very  remarkable  happened  to  Godfrey 
during  those  ten  years  of  his  life  in  India,  or  at  least 
only  one  or  two  things.  Thus  once  he  got  into  a 
scrape  for  which  he  was  not  really  responsible,  and 
got  out  of  it  again,  as  he  imagined,  without  remark, 
until  Isobel  showed  her  common  and  rather  painful 
intimacy  with  its  details,  of  which  she  appeared  to 
take  a  somewhat  uncharitable  view,  at  any  rate  so 
far  as  the  lady  was  concerned. 

The  other  matter  was  more  serious,  since  it  in- 
volved the  loss  of  his  greatest  friend,  Arthur  Thor- 
burn.  Briefly,  what  happened  was  this.  There  was 
a  frontier  disturbance.  Godfrey,  who  by  now  was  a 
staff  officer,  had  been  sent  to  a  far  outpost  held  by 
Thorburn  with  a  certain  number  of  men,  and  there 
took  command.  A  reconnaissance  was  necessary,  and 
Thorburn  went  out  for  that  purpose  with  over  half 
of  the  available  garrison  of  the  post,  having  received 
written  orders  that  he  was  not  to  engage  the  enemy 
unless  he  found  himself  absolutely  surrounded.  In 
the  end  Thorburn  did  engage  the  enemy  with  the  re- 
sult that  practically  he  and  his  force  were  extermi- 
nated, but  not  before  they  had  inflicted  such  a  lesson 
on  the  said  enemy  that  it  sued  for  peace  and  has 
been  great  friends  with  the  British  power  ever  since. 

First  however  a  feeble  attack  was  made  on  God- 
308 


FRANCE— AND  AFTER  309 

frey's  camp  that  he  beat  off  without  the  loss  of  a 
single  man,  exaggerated  accounts  of  which  were  tele- 
graphed home  representing  it  as  a  "  Rorke's  Drift 
defence." 

Godfrey  was  heartbroken;  he  had  loved  this  man  as 
a  brother,  more  indeed  than  brothers  often  love.  And 
now  Thorburn,  his  only  friend,  was  dead.  The  Dark- 
ness had  taken  him,  that  impenetrable,  devouring  dark- 
ness out  of  which  we  come  and  into  which  we  go. 
Religion  told  him  he  should  not  grieve,  that  Thorburn 
doubtless  was  much  better  off  whither  he  had  gone 
than  he  could  ever  have  been  on  earth,  although  it  was 
true  the  same  religion  said  that  he  might  be  much 
worse  off,  since  thither  his  failings  would  have  fol- 
lowed him.  Dismissing  the  latter  possibility,  how 
could  he  be  happy  in  a  new  world,  Godfrey  wondered, 
having  left  all  he  cared  for  behind  him  and  without 
possibility  of  communication  with  them  ? 

In  short,  all  the  old  problems  of  which  he  had  not 
thought  much  since  Miss  Ogilvy  died,  came  back  to 
Godfrey  with  added  force  and  left  him  wretched.  Nor 
was  he  consoled  by  the  sequel  of  the  affair  of  which 
he  was  bound  to  report  the  facts.  The  gallant  man 
who  was  dead  was  blamed  unjustly  for  what  had 
happened,  as  perhaps  he  deserved  who  had  not  suc- 
ceeded, since  those  who  set  their  blind  eye  to  the  tele- 
scope as  Nelson  did  must  justify  their  action  by 
success. 

Godfrey,  on  the  other  hand,  who  had  done  little 
but  defeat  an  attack  made  by  exhausted  and  dis- 
spirited  men,  was  praised  to  the  skies  and  found  him- 
self figuring  as  a  kind  of  hero  in  the  English  Press, 
which  after  a  long  period  of  peace  having  lost  all 


3io  LOVE  ETERNAL 

sense  of  proportion  in  such  matters,  was  glad  of  any- 
thing that  could  be  made  to  serve  the  purposes  of 
sensation.  Ultimately  he  was  thanked  by  the  Gov- 
ernment of  India,  made  a  brevet-Major  and  decorated 
with  the  D.S.O.,  of  all  of  which  it  may  be  said  with 
truth  that  never  were  such  honours  received  with 
less  pleasure. 

So  much  did  he  grieve  over  this  unhappy  business 
that  his  health  was  affected  and  being  run  down,  in 
the  end  he  took  some  sort  of  fever  and  was  very  ill 
indeed.  When  at  length  he  recovered  more  or  less  he 
went  before  a  Medical  Board  who  ordered  him 
promptly  to  England  on  six  months'  leave. 

Most  men  would  have  rejoiced,  but  Godfrey  did 
not.  He  had  little  wish  to  return  to  England  where, 
except  Mrs.  Parsons,  there  were  none  he  desired  to 
see,  save  one  whom  he  was  sworn  not  to  see.  This 
he  could  bear  while  they  were  thousands  of  miles 
apart,  but  to  be  in  the  same  country  with  Isobel,  in 
the  same  town  perhaps,  and  forbidden  to  hear  her 
voice  or  to  touch  her  hand,  how  could  he  bear  that? 
Still  he  had  no  choice  in  this  matter,  arranged  by  the 
hand  of  Fate,  and  went,  reflecting  that  he  would  go 
to  Lucerne  and  spend  the  time  with  the  Pasteur.  Per- 
haps even  he  would  live  in  the  beautiful  house  that 
Miss  Ogilvy  had  left  to  him,  or  a  corner  of  it,  seeing 
that  it  was  empty,  for  the  tenants  to  whom  it  had  been 
let  had  gone  away. 

So  he  started  at  the  end  of  the  first  week  in  July, 
1914. 

When  his  ship  reached  Marseilles  it  was  to  find  that 
the  world  was  buzzing  with  strange  rumours.  There 
was  talk  of  war  in  Europe.  Russia  was  said  to  be 


FRANCE— AND  AFTER  311 

mobilising;  Germany  was  said  to  be  mobilising;  France 
was  said  to  be  mobilising;  it  was  even  rumoured  that 
England  might  be  drawn  into  some  Titanic  struggle  of 
the  nations.  And  yet  no  accurate  information  was 
obtainable.  The  English  papers  they  saw  were  some- 
what  old  and  their  reports  vague  in  the  extreme. 

Much  excited,  like  everyone  else,  Godfrey  tele- 
graphed  to  the  India  Office,  asking  leave  to  come  home 
direct  overland,  which  he  could  not  do  without  per- 
mission since  he  was  in  command  of  a  number 
of  soldiers  who  were  returning  to  England  on  fur- 
lough. 

No  answer  came  to  his  wire  before  his  ship  sailed, 
and  therefore  he  was  obliged  to  proceed  by  long  sea. 
Still  it  had  important  consequences  which  at  the  mo- 
ment he  could  not  foresee.  In  the  Bay  the  tidings  that 
reached  them  by  Marconigram  were  evidently  so  care- 
fully censored  that  out  of  them  they  could  make  noth- 
ing, except  that  the  Empire  was  filled  with  great 
doubt  and  anxiety,  and  that  the  world  stood  on  the 
verge  of  such  a  war  as  had  never  been  known  in 
history. 

At  length  they  came  to  Southampton  where  the 
pilot-boat  brought  him  a  telegram  ordering  him  to  re- 
port himself  without  delay.  Three  hours  later  he  was 
in  London.  At  the  India  Office,  where  he  was  kept 
waiting  a  while,  he  was  shown  into  the  room  of  a 
prominent  and  harassed  official  who  had  some  papers 
in  front  of  him. 

"You  are  Major  Knight?"  said  the  official. 
"  Well,  here  is  your  record  before  me  and  it  is  good, 
very  good  indeed.  But  I  see  that  you  are  on  sick 
leave.  Are  you  too  ill  for  service?  " 


312  LOVE  ETERNAL 

"  No,"  answered  Godfrey,  "  the  voyage  has  set  me 
up.  I  feel  as  well  as  ever  I  did." 

"  That's  fortunate,"  answered  the  official,  "  but  there 
is  a  doctor  on  the  premises,  and  to  make  sure  he 
shall  have  a  look  at  you.  Go  down  and  see  him,  if 
you  will,  and  then  come  back  here  with  his  report," 
and  he  rang  a  bell  and  gave  some  orders. 

Within  half  an  hour  Godfrey  was  back  in  the  room 
with  a  clean  bill  of  health.  The  official  read  the  cer- 
tificate and  remarked  that  he  was  going  to  send  him 
over  to  the  War  Office,  where  he  would  make  an  ap- 
pointment for  him  by  telephone. 

"  What  for,  Sir?  "  asked  Godfrey.  "  You  see  I  am 
only  just  off  my  ship  and  very  ignorant  of  the 
news." 

"  The  news  is,  Major  Knight,  that  we  shall  be  at 
war  with  Germany  before  we  are  twelve  hours  older," 
was  the  solemn  answer.  "  Officers  are  wanted,  and  we 
are  giving  every  good  man  from  India  on  whom  we 
can  lay  our  hands.  They  won't  put  you  on  the  Staff, 
because  you  have  everything  to  learn  about  European 
work,  but  I  expect  they  will  find  you  a  billet  in  one  of 
the  expeditionary  regiments.  And  now  good-bye 
and  good  luck  to  you,  for  I  have  lots  of  men  to  see. 
By  the  way,  I  take  it  for  granted  that  you  volunteer 
for  the  job?" 

"  Of  course,"  replied  Godfrey  simply,  and  went 
away  to  wander  about  the  endless  passages  of  the  War 
Office  till  at  length  he  discovered  the  man  whom  he 
must  see. 

A  few  tumultuous  days  went  by,  and  he  found  him- 
sel  f  upon  a  steamer  crossing  to  France,  attached  to  a 
famous  English  regiment. 


FRANCE— AND  AFTER  313 

The  next  month  always  remained  in  Godfrey's  mind 
as  a  kind  of  nightmare  in  which  he  moved  on  plains 
stained  the  colour  of  blood,  beneath  a  sky  black  with 
bellowing  thunder  and  illumined  occasionally  by  a 
blaze  of  splendour.  It  would  be  useless  to  attempt  to 
set  out  the  experience  and  adventures  of  the  particular 
cavalry  regiment  to  which  he  was  attached  as  a  major, 
since,  notwithstanding  their  infinite  variety,  they  were 
such  as  all  shared  whose  glory  it  was  to  take  part 
with  what  the  Kaiser  called  the  "  contemptible  little 
army  "  of  England  in  the  ineffable  retreat  from  Mons, 
that  retreat  which  saved  France  and  Civilisation. 

Godfrey  played  his  part  well,  once  or  twice  with 
heroism  indeed,  but  what  of  that  amid  eighty  thou- 
sand heroes?  Back  he  staggered  with  the  rest,  ex- 
hausted, sleepless,  fighting,  fighting,  fighting,  his  mind 
filled  alternately  with  horror  and  with  wonder,  horror 
at  the  deeds  to  which  men  can  sink  and  the  general 
scheme  of  things  that  makes  them  possible,  wonder 
at  the  heights  to  which  they  can  rise  when  lifted 
by  the  inspiration  of  a  great  ideal  and  a  holy  cause. 
Death,  he  reflected,  could  not  after  all  mean  so  very 
much  to  man,  seeing  how  bravely  it  was  met  every 
minute  of  the  day  and  night,  and  that  the  aspect  of  it, 
often  so  terrible,  did  but  encourage  others  in  like 
fashion  to  smile  and  die.  But  oh!  what  did  it  all 
mean,  and  who  ruled  this  universe  with  such  a  flaming, 
blood-stained  sword? 

Then  at  last  came  the  turn  of  the  tide  when  the 
hungry  German  wolf  was  obliged  to  abandon  that 
Paris  which  already  he  thought  between  his  jaws  and, 
a  few  days  after  it,  the  charge,  the  one  splendid,  per- 
fect charge  that  consoled  Godfrey  and  those  with  him 


314  LOVE  ETERNAL 

for  all  which  they  had  suffered,  lost  and  feared.  He 
was  in  command  of  the  regiment  now,  for  those 
superior  to  him  had  been  killed,  and  he  directed  and 
accompanied  that  charge.  They  thundered  on  to  the 
mass  of  the  Germans  who  were  retreating  with  no  time 
to  entrench  or  set  entanglements,  a  gentle  slope  in 
front,  and  hard,  clear  ground  beneath  their  horses' 
feet.  They  cut  through  them,  they  trod  them  down, 
they  drove  them  by  scores  and  hundreds  into  the 
stream  beyond,  till  those  two  battalions,  or  what  re- 
mained of  them,  were  but  a  tangled,  drowning  mob. 
It  was  finished;  the  English  squadron  turned  to  re- 
treat as  had  been  ordered. 

Then  of  a  sudden  Godfrey  felt  a  dull  blow.  For  a 
few  moments  consciousness  remained  to  him.  He 
called  out  some  command  about  the  retirement;  it 
came  into  his  mind  that  thus  it  was  well  to  die 
in  the  moment  of  his  little  victory.  After  that — 
blackness ! 

When  his  sense  returned  to  him  he  found  himself 
lying  in  the  curtained  corner  of  a  big  room.  At  least 
he  thought  that  it  was  big  because  of  the  vast  expanse 
of  ceiling  which  he  could  see  above  the  curtain  rods 
and  the  sounds  without,  some  of  which  seemed  to  come 
from  a  distance.  There  was  a  window,  too,  through 
which  he  caught  sight  of  lawns  and  statues  and  formal 
trees.  Just  then  the  curtain  was  drawn,  and  there  ap- 
peared a  middle-aged  woman  dressed  in  white,  looking 
very  calm,  very  kind  and  very  spotless,  who  started  a 
little  when  she  saw  that  his  eyes  were  open  and  that  his 
face  was  intelligent. 

"  Where  am  I  ?  "  he  asked,  and  was  puzzled  to  ob- 


FRANCE— AND  AFTER  315' 

serve  that  the  sound  of  his  voice  seemed  feeble  and 
far  away. 

"  In  the  hospital  at  Versailles,"  she  answered  in  a 
pleasant  voice. 

"  Indeed !  "  he  murmured.  "  It  occurred  to  me  that 
it  might  be  Heaven  or  some  place  of  the  sort." 

"If  you  looked  through  the  curtain  you  wouldn't 
call  it  Heaven,"  she  said  with  a  sigh,  adding,  "  No, 
Major,  you  were  near  to  '  going  west,'  very  near,  but 
you  never  got  to  the  gates  of  Heaven." 

"  I  can't  remember,"  he  murmured  again. 

"Of  course  you  can't,  so  don't  try,  for  you  see  you 
got  it  in  the  head,  a  bit  of  shell;  and  a  nice  operation, 
or  rather  operations,  they  had  over  you.  If  it  wasn't 
for  that  clever  surgeon — but  there,  never  mind." 

"Shall  I  recover?" 

"  Of  course  you  will.  We  have  had  no  doubt  about 
that  for  the  last  week ;  you  have  been  here  nearly  three, 
you  know;  only,  you  see,  we  thought  you  might  be 
blind,  something  to  do  with  the  nerves  of  the  eyes. 
But  it  appears  that  isn't  so.  Now  be  quiet,  for  I  can't 
stop  talking  to  you  with  two  dying  just  outside,  and 
another  whom  I  hope  to  save." 

"  One  thing,  Nurse — about  the  war.  Have  the  Ger- 
mans got  Paris  ? " 

'  That's  a  silly  question,  Major,  which  makes  me. 
think  you  ain't  so  right  as  I  believed.  If  those  brutes 
had  Paris  do  you  think  you  would  be  at  Versailles? 
Or,  at  any  rate,  that  I  should  ?  Don't  you  bother  about 
the  war.  It's  all  right,  or  as  right  as  it  is  likely  to  be 
for  many  a  long  day." 

Then  she  went. 

A  week  later  Godfrey  was  allowed  to  get  out  of  bed 


3i6  LOVE  ETERNAL 

and  was  even  carried  to  sit  in  the  autumn  sunshine 
among  other  shattered  men.  Now  he  learned  all  there 
was  to  know;  that  the  German  rush  had  been  stayed, 
that  they  had  been  headed  off  from  Calais,  and  that 
the  armies  were  entrenching  opposite  to  each  other 
and  preparing  for  the  winter,  the  Allied  cause  having 
been  saved,  as  it  were,  by  a  miracle,  at  any  rate  for  the 
while.  He  was  still  very  weak,  with  great  pain  in  his 
head,  and  could  not  read  at  all,  which  grieved  him. 

So  the  time  went  by,  till  at  last  he  was  told  that  he 
was  to  be  sent  to  England,  as  his  bed  was  wanted  and 
he  could  recover  there  as  well  as  in  France.  Two  days 
later  he  started  in  a  hospital  train  and  suffered  much 
upon  the  journey,  although  it  was  broken  for  a  night 
at  Boulogne.  Still  he  came  safely  to  London,  and 
was  taken  to  a  central  hospital  where  next  day  several 
doctors  held  a  consultation  over  him.  When  it  was 
over  they  asked  him  if  he  had  friends  in  London  and 
wished  to  stay  there.  He  replied  that  he  had  no 
friends  except  an  old  nurse  at  Hampstead,  if  she  were 
still  there,  and  that  he  did  not  like  London.  Then 
there  was  talk  among  them,  and  the  word  Torquay 
was  mentioned.  The  head  doctor  seemed  to  agree,  but 
as  he  was  leaving,  changed  his  mind. 

"  Too  long  a  journey,"  he  said,  "  it  would  knock 
him  up.  Give  me  that  list.  Here,  this  place  will  do; 
quite  close  and  got  up  regardless,  I  am  told,  for  she's 
very  rich.  That's  what  he  wants — comfort  and  first- 
class  food,"  and  with  a  nod  to  Godfrey,  who  was 
listening  in  an  idle  fashion,  quite  indifferent  as  to 
his  destination,  he  was  gone. 

Next  day  they  carried  him  off  in  an  ambulance 
through  the  crowded  Strand,  and  presently  he  found 


FRANCE— AND  AFTER 

himself  at  Liverpool  Street,  where  he  was  put  into  an 
invalid  carriage.  He  asked  the  orderly  where  he  was 
going,  but  the  man  did  not  seem  to  know,  or  had  for- 
gotten the  name.  So  troubling  no  more  about  it  he 
took  a  dose  of  medicine  as  he  had  been  ordered,  and 
presently  went  to  sleep,  as  no  doubt  it  was  intended 
that  he  should  do.  When  he  woke  up  again  it  was  to 
find  himself  being  lifted  from  another  ambulance  into 
a  house  which  was  very  dark,  perhaps  because  of  the 
lighting  orders,  for  now  night  had  fallen.  He  was 
carried  in  a  chair  up  some  stairs  into  a  very  nice  bed- 
room, and  there  put  to  bed  by  two  men.  They  went 
away,  leaving  him  alone. 

Something  puzzled  him  about  the  place;  at  first  he 
could  not  think  what  it  was.  Then  he  knew.  The 
smell  of  it  was  familiar  to  him.  He  did  not  recognise 
the  room,  but  the  smell  he  did  seem  to  recognise, 
though  being  weak  and  shaken  he  could  not  connect  it 
with  any  particular  house  or  locality.  Now  there 
were  voices  in  the  passage,  and  he  knew  that  he  must 
be  dreaming,  for  the  only  one  that  he  could  really  hear 
sounded  exactly  like  to  that  of  old  Mrs.  Parsons.  He 
smiled  at  the  thought  and  shut  his  eyes.  The  voice 
that  was  like  to  that  of  Mrs.  Parsons  died  away,  say- 
ing as  it  went : 

"  No,  I  haven't  got  the  names,  but  I  dare  say  they 
are  downstairs.  I'll  go  and  look." 

The  door  opened  and  he  heard  someone  enter,  a 
woman  this  time  by  her  tread.  He  did  not  see,  both 
because  his  eyes  were  still  almost  closed  and  for  the 
reason  that  the  electric  light  was  heavily  shaded.  So 
he  just  lay  there,  wondering  quite  vaguely  where  he 
was  and  who  the  woman  might  be.  She  came  near 


3i8  LOVE  ETERNAL 

to  the  bed  and  looked  down  at  him,  for  he  heard  her 
dress  rustle  as  she  bent.  Then  he  became  aware  of  a 
very  strange  sensation.  He  felt  as  though  something 
were  flowing  from  that  woman  to  him,  some  strange 
and  concentrated  power  of  thought  which  was  chang- 
ing into  a  kind  of  agony  of  joy.  The  woman  above 
him  began  to  breathe  quickly,  in  sighs  as  it  were,  and 
he  knew  that  she  was  stirred;  he  knew  that  she  was 
wondering. 

"  I  cannot  see  his  face,  I  cannot  see  his  face !  "  she 
whispered  in  a  strained,  unnatural  tone.  Then  with 
some  swift  movement,  she  lifted  the  shade  that  was 
over  the  lamp.  He,  too,  turned  his  head  and  opened 
his  eyes. 

Oh,  God!  there  over  him  leant  Isobel,  clad  in  a 
nurse's  robes — yes,  Isobel — unless  he  were  mad. 

Next  moment  he  knew  that  he  was  not  mad,  for 
she  said  one  word,  only  one,  but  it  was  enough. 

"Godfrey!" 

"  Isobel!  "  he  gasped.     "  Is  it  you?  " 

She  made  no  answer,  at  least  in  words.  Only  she 
bent  down  and  kissed  him  on  the  lips. 

"  You  mustn't  do  that,"  he  whispered.  "  Remem- 
ber— our  promise." 

"  I  remember,"  she  answered.  "  Am  I  likely  to  for- 
get? It  was  that  you  would  never  see  me  nor  come 
into  this  house  while  my  father  lived.  Well,  he  died 
a  month  ago."  Then  a  doubt  struck  her,  and  she 
added  swiftly:  "Didn't  you  want  to  come  here?" 

"  Want,  Isobel !  What  else  have  I  wanted  for  ten 
years?  But  I  didn't  know;  my  coming  here  was  just 
an  accident." 

"  Are  there  such  things  as  accidents?  "  she  queried. 


FRANCE— AND  AFTER  319 

"  Was  it  an  accident  when  twenty  years  ago  I  found 
you  sleeping  in  the  schoolroom  at  the  Abbey  and 
kissed  you  on  the  forehead,  or  when  I  found  you 
sleeping  a  few  minutes  ago  twenty  whole  years 
later — ?"  and  she  paused. 

"  And  kissed  me — not  upon  the  forehead,"  said 
Godfrey  reflectively,  adding,  "  I  never  knew  about  that 
first  kiss.  Thank  you  for  it." 

"  Not  upon  the  forehead,"  she  repeated  after  him, 
colouring  a  little.  "  You  see  I  have  faith  and  take  a 
great  deal  for  granted.  If  I  should  be  mistaken " 

"Oh!  don't  trouble  about  that,"  he  broke  in,  "be- 
cause you  know  it  couldn't  be.  Ten  years,  or  ten 
thousand,  and  it  would  make  no  difference." 

"  I  wonder,"  she  mused,  "  oh !  how  I  wonder.  Do 
you  think  it  possible  that  we  shall  be  living  ten  thou- 
sand years  hence  ?  " 

"  Quite,"  he  answered  with  cheerful  assurance, 
"  much  more  possible  than  that  I  should  be  living  to- 
day. What's  ten  thousand  years?  It's  quite  a  hun- 
dred thousand  since  I  saw  you." 

"  Don't  laugh  at  me,"  she  exclaimed. 

"  Why  not,  dear,  when  there's  nothing  in  the  whole 
world  at  which  I  wouldn't  laugh  just  now?  although  I 
would  rather  look  at  you.  Also  I  wasn't  laughing, 
I  was  loving,  and  when  one  is  loving  very  much,  the 
truth  comes  out." 

"  Then  you  really  think  it  true — about  the  ten  thou- 
sand years,  I  mean?" 

"Of  course,  dear,"  he  answered,  and  this  time  his 
voice  was  serious  enough.  "  Did  we  not  tell  each  other 
yonder  in  the  Abbey  that  ours  was  the  love  eternal?  " 

"  Yes,  but  words  cannot  make  eternity." 


320  LOVE  ETERNAL 

"  No,  but  thoughts  and  the  will  behind  them  can, 
for  we  reap  what  we  sow." 

"  Why  do  you  say  that  ?  "  she  asked  quickly. 

"  I  can't  tell  you,  except  because  I  know  that  it  is 
so.  We  come  to  strange  conclusions  out  yonder, 
where  only  death  seems  to  be  true  and  all  the  rest  a 
dream.  What  we  call  the  real  and  the  unreal  get 
mixed." 

A  kind  of  wave  of  happiness  passed  through  her, 
so  obvious  that  it  was  visible  to  the  watching  God- 
frey. 

"  If  you  believe  it  I  dare  say  that  it  is  so,  for  you 
always  had  what  they  call  vision,  had  you  not  ?  "  Then 
without  waiting  for  an  answer,  she  went  on,  "  What 
nonsense  we  are  talking.  Don't  you  understand, 
Godfrey,  that  I  am  quite  old?" 

"  Yes,"  he  answered,  "  getting  on ;  six  months 
younger  than  I  am,  I  think." 

"  Oh !  it's  different  with  a  man.  Another  dozen 
years  and  I'm  finished." 

"  Possibly,  except  for  that  eternity  before  you." 

"  Also,"  she  continued,  "  I  am  even " 

"  Even  more  beautiful  than  you  were  ten  years 
ago,  at  any  rate  to  me,"  he  broke  in. 

"  You  foolish  Godfrey,"  she  murmured,  and  moved 
a  little  away  from  him. 

Just  then  the  door  opened,  and  Mrs.  Parsons,  look- 
ing very  odd  in  a  nurse's  dress  with  the  cap  awry 
upon  her  grey  hair,  entered,  carrying  a  bit  of  paper. 

"  The  hunt  I  had !  "  she  began ;  "  that  silly,  new- 
fangled kind  of  a  girl-clerk  having  stuck  the  paper 
away  under  the  letter  O — for  officers,  you  know, 
Miss — in  some  fancy  box  of  hers,  and  then  gone  off  to 


FRANCE— AND  AFTER  321 

tea.     Here  are  the  names,  but  I  can't  see  without  my 
specs." 

At  this  point  something  in  the  attitude  of  the  twq. 
struck  her,  something  that  her  instincts  told  her  wasiv 
uncommon,  and  she  stood  irresolute.     Isobel  stepped 
to  her  as  though  to  take  the  list,  and,  bending  down, 
whispered  into  her  ear. 

"What?"  said  Mrs.   Parsons.     "Surely  I  didn't' 
understand;  you  know  I'm  getting  deaf  as  well  as 
blind.     Say  the  name  again." 

Isobel  obeyed,  still  in  a  whisper. 

"Him!"  exclaimed  the  old  woman,  "him!  Our 
Godfrey,  and  you've  been  and  let  on  who  you  were — 
you  who  call  yourself  a  nursing  Commandant?  Why, 
I  dare  say  you'll  be  the  death  of  him.  Out  you  go, 
Miss,  anyway;  I'll  take  charge  of  this  case  for  the 
present,"  and  as  it  seemed  to  Godfrey,  watching  from 
the  far  corner,  literally  she  bundled  Isobel  from  the 
room. 

Then  she  shut  and  locked  the  door.  Coming  to  the 
bedside  she  knelt  down  rather  stiffly,  looked  at  him  for 
a  while  to  make  sure,  and  kissed  him,  not  once,  but 
many  times. 

"  So  you  have  come  back,  my  dear,"  she  said,  "  and 
only  half  dead.  Well,  we  won't  have  no  young  woman 
pushing  between  you  and  me  just  at  present,  Com- 
mandant or  not.  Time  enough  for  love-making  when 
you  are  stronger.  Oh !  and  I  never  thought  to  see  you 
again.  There  must  be  a  good  God  somewhere  after  all, 
although  He  did  make  them  Germans." 

Then  again  she  fell  to  kissing  and  blessing  him,  her 
hot  tears  dropping  on  his  face  and  upsetting  him  ten 
times  as  much  as  Isobel  had  done. 


322  LOVE  ETERNAL 

Since  in  this  topsy-turvy  world  often  things  work 
by  contraries,  oddly  enough  no  harm  came  to  Godfrey 
from  these  fierce  excitements.  Indeed  he  slept  better 
than  he  had  done  since  he  found  his  mind  again,  and 
awoke,  still  weak  of  course,  but  without  any  tempera- 
ture or  pains  in  his  head.  Now  it  was  that  there  began 
the  most  blissful  period  of  all  his  life.  Isobel,  when 
she  had  recovered  her  balance,  made  him  understand 
that  he  was  a  patient,  and  that  exciting  talk  or  acts 
must  be  avoided.  He  on  his  part  fell  in  with  her 
wishes,  and  indeed  was  well  content  to  do  so.  For  a 
while  he  wanted  nothing  more  than  just  to  lie  there 
and  watch  her  moving  in  and  out  of  his  room,  with 
his  food  or  flowers,  or  whatever  it  might  be,  for  a 
burst  of  bad  weather  prevented  him  from  going  out 
of  doors.  Then,  as  he  strengthened  she  began  to 
talk  to  him  (which  Mrs.  Parsons  did  before  that 
event),  telling  him  all  that  for  years  he  had  longed 
to  know;  no,  not  all,  but  some  things.  Among  other 
matters  she  described  to  him  the  details  of  her  fath- 
er's end,  which  occurred  in  a  very  characteristic 
fashion. 

;'  You  see,  dear,"  she  said,  "  as  he  grew  older  his 
passion  for  money-making  increased  more  and  more; 
why,  I  am  sure  I  cannot  say,  seeing  that  Heaven  knows 
he  had  enough." 

"  Yes,"  said  Godfrey,  "  I  suppose  you  are  a  very 
rich  woman." 

She  nodded,  saying :  "  So  rich  that  I  don't  know 
how  rich,  for  really  I  haven't  troubled  even  to  read  all 
the  figures,  and  as  yet  they  are  not  complete.  More- 
over, I  believe  that  soon  I  shall  be  much  richer.  I'll 
tell  you  why  presently.  The  odd  thing  is,  too,  that  my 


FRANCE— AND  AFTER  323 

father  died  intestate,  so  I  get  every  farthing.  I  be- 
lieve he  meant  to  make  a  will  with  some  rather  pecu- 
liar provisions  that  perhaps  you  can  guess.  But  this 
will  was  never  made." 

"Why  not?  "asked  Godfrey. 

"  Because  he  died  first,  that's  all.  It  was  this  way. 
He,  or  rather  his  firm,  which  is  only  another  name  for 
him,  for  he  owned  three-fourths  of  the  capital,  got 
some  tremendous  shipping  contract  with  the  Govern- 
ment arising  out  of  the  war,  that  secures  an  enormous 
profit  to  them;  how  much  I  can't  tell  you,  but  hundreds 
and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  pounds.  He  had  been 
very  anxious  about  this  contract,  for  his  terms  were 
so  stiff  that  the  officials  who  manage  such  affairs  hesi- 
tated about  signing  them.  At  last  one  day  after  a 
long  and  I  gather,  stormy  interview  with  I  don't  know 
whom,  in  the  course  of  which  some  rather  strong 
language  seems  to  have  been  used,  the  contract 
was  signed  and  delivered  to  the  firm.  My  father 
came  home  to  this  house  with  a  copy  of  it  in  his 
pocket.  He  was  very  triumphant,  for  he  looked  at 
the  matter  solely  from  a  business  point  of  view,  not  at 
all  from  that  of  the  country.  Also  he  was  very  tired, 
for  he  had  aged  much  during  the  last  few  years,  and 
suffered  occasionally  from  heart  attacks.  To  keep 
himself  up  he  drank  a  great  deal  of  wine  at  dinner, 
first  champagne,  and  then  the  best  part  of  a  bottle  of 
port.  This  made  him  talkative,  and  he  kept  me  sitting 
there  to  listen  to  him  while  he  boasted,  poor  man, 
of  how  he  had  '  walked  round '  the  officials  who 
thought  themselves  so  clever,  but  never  saw  some  trap 
which  he  had  set  for  them." 

"  And  what  did  you  do  ?  "  asked  Godfrey. 


324  LOVE  ETERNAL 

"  You  know  very  well  what  I  did.  I  grew  angry,  I 
could  not  help  it,  and  told  him  I  thought  it  was  shame- 
ful to  make  money  wrongfully  out  of  the  country  at 
such  a  time,  especially  when  he  did  not  want  it  at  all. 
Then  he  was  furious  and  answered  that  he  did  want  it, 
to  support  the  peerage  which  he  was  going  to  get. 
He  said  also,"  she  added  slowly,  "  that  I  was  '  an 
ignorant,  interfering  vixen,'  yes,  that  is  what  he  called 
me,  a  vixen,  who  had  always  been  a  disappointment 
to  him  and  thwarted  his  plans.  '  However,'  he  went 
on,  '  as  you  think  so  little  of  my  hard-earned  money, 
I'll  take  care  that  you  don't  have  more  of  it  than  I 
can  help.  I  am  not  going  to  leave  it  to  be  wasted  on 
silly  charities  by  a  sour  old  maid,  for  that's  what  you 
are,  since  you  can't  get  hold  of  your  precious  parson's 
son,  who  I  hope  will  be  sent  to  the  war  and  killed. 
I'll  see  the  lawyers  to-morrow,  and  make  a  will, 
which  I  hope  you'll  find  pleasant  reading  one 
day.' 

"  I  answered  that  he  might  make  what  will  he  liked, 
and  left  the  room,  though  he  tried  to  stop  me. 

"  About  half  an  hour  later  I  saw  the  butler  running 
about  the  garden  where  I  was,  looking  for  me  in  the 
gloom,  and  heard  him  calling :  '  Come  to  Sir  John, 
miss.  Come  to  Sir  John!' 

"  I  went  in  and  there  was  my  father  fallen  forward 
on  the  dining-room  table,  with  blood  coming  from  his 
lips,  though  I  believe  this  was  caused  by  a  crushed 
wineglass.  His  pocket-book  was  open  beneath  him,  in 
which  he  had  been  writing  figures  of  his  estate,  and,  I 
think,  headings  for  the  will  he  meant  to  make,  but  these 
I  could  not  read  since  the  faint  pencilling  was  blotted 
out  with  blood.  He  was  quite  dead  from  some  kind 


FRANCE— AND  AFTER  325 

of  a  stroke  followed  by  heart  failure,  as  the  doctors 
said." 

"  Is  that  all  the  pleasant  story?  "  asked  Godfrey. 

"  Yes,  except  that  there  being  no  will  I  inherited 
everything,  or  shall  do  so.  I  tried  to  get  that  contract 
cancelled,  but  could  not;  first,  because  having  once 
made  it  the  Government  would  not  consent,  since  to  do 
so  would  have  been  a  reflection  on  those  concerned,  and 
secondly,  for  the  reason  that  the  other  partners  in  the 
shipping  business  objected.  So  we  shall  have  to  give  it 
back  in  some  other  way." 

Godfrey  looked  at  her,  and  said: 

"  You  meant  to  say  that  you  will  have  to  give  it 
back." 

"  I  don't  know  what  I  meant,"  she  answered,  colour- 
ing; "but  having  said  we,  I  think  I  will  be  like  the 
Government  and  stick  to  it.  That  is,  unless  you  object 
very  much,  my  dear." 

"Object!  /  object!"  and  taking  the  hand  that 
was  nearest  to  him,  he  covered  it  with  kisses.  As  he 
did  so  he  noted  that  for  the  first  time  she  wore  the  little 
ring  with  tourquoise  hearts  upon  her  third  finger,  the 
ring  that  so  many  years  before  he  had  bought  at 
Lucerne,  the  ring  that  through  Mrs.  Parsons  he  had 
sent  her  in  the  pill-box  on  the  evening  of  their  separa- 
tion. 

This  was  the  only  form  of  engagement  that  ever 
passed  between  them,  the  truth  being  that  from  the 
moment  he  entered  the  place  it  was  all  taken  for 
granted,  not  only  by  themselves,  but  by  everyone  in 
•the  house,  including  the  wounded.  With  this  de- 
velopment of  an  intelligent  instinct,,  it  is  possible  that 
Mrs.  Parsons  had  something  to  do. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

MARRIAGE 

IN  that  atmosphere  of  perfect  bliss  Godfrey's  cure 
was  quick.  For  bliss  it  was,  save  only  that  there  was 
another  bliss  beyond  to  be  attained.  Remember  that 
this  man,  now  approaching  middle  life,  had  never, 
drunk  of  the  cup  of  what  is  known  as  love  upon  the 
earth. 

Some  might  answer  that  such  is  the  universal  ex- 
perience; that  true,  complete  love  has  no  existence, 
except  it  be  that  love  of  God  to  which  a  few  at  last 
attain,  since  in  what  we  know  as  God  completeness 
and  absolute  unity  can  be  found  alone.  Other  loves 
all  have  their  flaws,  with  one  exception  perhaps,  that 
of  the  love  of  the  dead  which  fondly  we  imagine  to 
be  unchangeable.  For  the  rest  passion,  however  ex- 
alted, passes  or  at  least  becomes  dull  with  years;  the 
most  cherished  children  grow  up,  and  in  so  doing,  by 
the  law  of  Nature,  grow  away;  friends  are  estranged 
and  lost  in  their  own  lives. 

Upon  the  earth  there  is  no  perfect  love;  it  must  be 
sought  elsewhere,  since  having  the  changeful  shadows, 
we  know  there  is  a  sky  wherein  shines  the  sun  that 
casts  them. 

Godfrey,  as  it  chanced,  omitting  Isobel,  had  walked 
little  even  in  these  sweet  shadows.  There  were  but 
three  others  for  whom  he  had  felt  devotion  in  all 
his  days;  his  nurse,  Mrs.  Parsons,  his  tutor,  Monsieur 

326 


MARRIAGE  327 

Boiset,  and  his  friend,  Arthur  Thorburn,  who  was 
gone.  Therefore  to  him  Isobel  was  everything.  As  a 
child  he  had  adored  her;  as  a  woman  she  was  his 
desire,  his  faith  and  his  worship. 

If  this  were  so  with  him,  still  more  was  it  the  case 
with  Isobel,  who  in  truth  cared  for  no  other  human 
being.  Something  in  her  nature  prevented  her  from 
contracting  violent  female  friendships,  and  to  all  men, 
except  a  few  of  ability,  each  of  them  old  enough  to 
be  her  father,  she  was  totally  indifferent ;  indeed  most 
of  them  repelled  her.  On  Godfrey,  and  Godfrey  alone, 
from  the  first  moment  she  saw  him  as  a  child  she 
had  poured  all  the  deep  treasure  of  her  heart.  He 
was  at  once  her  divinity  and  her  other  self,  the  seg- 
ment that  completed  her  life's  circle,  without  which  it 
was  nothing  but  a  useless,  broken  ring. 

So  much  did  this  seem  to  her  to  be  so,  that  notwith- 
standing her  lack  of  faith  in  matters  beyond  proof 
and  knowledge,  she  never  conceived  of  this  passion  of 
hers  as  having  had  a  beginning,  or  of  being  capable  of 
an  end.  This  contradictory  woman  would  argue 
against  the  possibility  of  any  future  existence,  yet  she 
was  quite  certain  that  her  love  for  Godfrey  had  a 
future  existence,  and  indeed  one  that  was  endless. 
When  at  length  he  put  it  to  her  that  her  attitude  was 
most  illogical,  since  that  which  was  dead  and  dissolved 
could  not  exist  in  any  place  or  shape,  she  thought  for 
a  while  and  replied  quietly : 

"  Then  I  must  be  wrong." 

"  Wrong  in  what?  "  asked  Godfrey. 

"  In  supposing  that  we  do  not  live  after  death.  The 
continuance  of  our  love  I  know  to  be  beyond  any 
doubt,  and  if  it  involves  our  continuance  as  in- 


328  LOVE  ETERNAL 

dividual  entities — well,  then  we  continue,  that  is 
all." 

"  We  might  continue  as  a  single  entity,"  he  sug- 
gested. 

"  Perhaps,"  she  answered,  "  and  if  so  this  would  be 
better  still,  for  it  must  be  impossible  to  lose  one  an- 
other while  that  remained  alive,  comprising  both." 

Thus,  and  in  these  few  words,  although  she  never 
became  altogether  orthodox,  or  took  quite  the  same 
view  of  such  mysteries  as  did  Godfrey,  Isobel  made 
her  great  recantation,  for  which  probably  there  would 
never  have  been  any  need  had  she  been  born  in  dif- 
ferent surroundings  and  found  some  other  spiritual 
guide  in  youth  than  Mr.  Knight.  As  the  cruelties 
and  the  narrow  bitterness  of  the  world  had  bred  un- 
faith  in  her,  so  did  supreme  love  breed  faith,  if  of 
an  unusual  sort,  since  she  learned  that  without  the 
faith  her  love  must  die,  and  the  love  she  knew  to  be 
immortal.  Therefore  the  existence  of  that  living  love 
presupposed  all  the  rest,  and  convinced  her,  which 
in  one  of  her  obstinate  nature  nothing  else  could 
possibly  have  done,  no,  not  if  she  had  seen  a  miracle. 
Also  this  love  of  hers  was  so  profound  and  beautiful 
that  she  felt  its  true  origin  and  ultimate  home  must  be 
elsewhere  than  on  the  earth. 

That  was  why  she  consented  to  be  married  in 
church,  somewhat  to  Godfrey's  surprise. 

In  due  course,  having  practically  recovered  his 
health,  Godfrey  appeared  before  a  Board  in  London 
which  passed  him  as  fit  for  service,  but  gave  him 
a  month's  leave.  With  this  document  he  returned  to 
Hawk's  Hall,  and  there  showed  it  to  Isobel. 


MARRIAGE  329 

"And  when  the  month  is  up?"  she  asked,  looking 
at  him. 

"  Then  I  suppose  I  shall  have  to  join  my  regiment, 
unless  they  send  me  somewhere  else." 

"  A  month  is  a  very  short  time,"  she  went  on,  still 
looking  at  him  and  turning  a  little  pale. 

"  Yes,  dear,  but  lots  can  happen  in  it,  as  we  found 
out  in  France.  For  instance,"  he  added,  with  a  little 
hesitation,  "  we  can  get  married,  that  is,  if  you 
wish." 

"  You  know  very  well,  Godfrey,  that  I  have  wished 
it  for  quite  ten  years." 

"  And  you  know  very  well,  Isobel,  that  I  have 
wished  it — well,  ever  since  I  understood  what  mar- 
riage was.  How  about  to-morrow  ?  "  he  exclaimed, 
after  a  pause. 

She  laughed  and  shook  her  head. 

"  I  believe,  Godfrey,  that  some  sort  of  license  is 
necessary,  and  it  is  past  post  time.  Also  it  would  look 
scarcely  decent;  all  these  people  would  laugh  at  us. 
Also,  as  there  is  a  good  deal  of  property  concerned,  I 
must  make  some  arrangements." 

"  What  arrangements?  "  he  asked. 

She  laughed  again.  "  That  is  my  affair ;  you  know 
I  am  a  great  supporter  of  Woman's  Rights." 

"  Oh !  I  see,"  he  replied  vaguely,  "  to  keep  it  all 
free  from  the  husband's  control,  &c." 

"  Yes,  Godfrey,  that's  it.  What  a  business  head 
you  have.  You  should  join  the  shipping  firm  after 
the  war." 

Then  they  settled  to  be  married  on  that  day  week, 
after  which  Isobel  suggested  that  he  should  take  up 
his  abode  at  the  Abbey  House,  where  the  clergyman, 


330  LOVE  ETERNAL 

a  bachelor,  would  be  very  glad  to  have  him  as  a  guest, 
When  Godfrey  inquired  why,  she  replied  blandly 
because  his  room  was  wanted  for  another  patient,  he 
being  now  cured,  and  that  therefore  he  had  no  right 
to  stop  there. 

"  Oh!  I  see.  How  selfish  of  me,"  said  Godfrey,  and 
went  off  to  arrange  matters  with  the  clergyman,  a 
friendly  and  accommodating  young  man,  with  the 
result  that  on  this  night  once  more  he  slept  in  the 
room  he  had  occupied  as  a  boy.  For  her  part  Isobel 
telephoned,  first  to  her  dressmaker,  and  secondly  to 
the  lawyer  who  was  winding  up  her  father's  estate, 
requesting  these  important  persons  to  come  to  see  her 
on  the  morrow. 

They  came  quickly,  since  Isobel  was  too  valuable  a 
client  to  be  neglected,  arriving  by  the  same  train,  with 
the  result  that  the  lawyer  was  kept  waiting  an  hour 
and  a  half  by  the  dressmaker,  a  fact  which  he  re- 
membered in  his  bill.  When  at  last  his  turn  came, 
Isobel  did  not  detain  him  long. 

"  I  am  going  to  be  married,"  she  said,  "  on  the 
twenty-fourth  to  Major  Godfrey  Knight  of  the  Indian 
Cavalry.  Will  you  kindly  prepare  two  documents,  the 
first  to  be  signed  before  my  marriage,  and  the  second, 
a  will,  immediately  after  it,  since  otherwise  it  would 
be  invalidated  by  that  change  in  my  condition." 

The  lawyer  stared  at  her,  since  so  much  legal  knowl- 
edge was  not  common  among  his  lady  clients,  and 
asked  for  instructions  as  to  what  the  documents  were 
to  set  out. 

"  They  will  be  very  simple,"  said  Isobel.  "  The 
first,  a  marriage  settlement,  will  settle  half  my  income 
free  of  my  control  upon  my  future  husband  during  our 


MARRIAGE  331 

joint  lives.  The  second,  that  is  the  will,  will  leave  to 
him  all  my  property,  real  and  personal." 

"  I  must  point  out  to  you,  Miss  Blake,"  said  the 
astonished  lawyer,  "  that  these  provisions  are  very 
unusual.  Does  Major  Knight  bring  large  sums  into 
settlement  ?  " 

"  I  don't  think  so,"  she  answered.  "  His  means  are 
quite  moderate,  and  if  they  were  not,  it  would  never 
occur  to  him  to  do  anything  of  the  sort,  as  he  under- 
stands nothing  about  money.  Also  circumstanced  as 
I  am,  it  does  not  matter  in  the  least." 

"  Your  late  father  would  have  taken  a  different 
view,"  sniffed  the  lawyer. 

"  Possibly,"  replied  Isobel,  "  for  our  views  varied 
upon  most  points.  While  he  was  alive  I  gave  way  to 
his,  to  my  great  loss  and  sorrow.  Now  that  he  is  dead 
I  follow  my  own." 

"  Well,  that  is  definite,  Miss  Blake,  and  of  course 
your  wishes  must  be  obeyed.  But  as  regards  this  will, 
do  not  think  me  indelicate  for  mentioning  it,  but  there 
might  be  children." 

"  I  don't  think  you  at  all  indelicate.  Why  should 
I  at  over  thirty  years  of  age?  I  have  considered  the 
point.  If  we  are  blessed  with  any  children,  and  I 
should  predecease  him,  my  future  husband  will  make 
such  arrangements  for  their  welfare  as  he  considers 
wise  and  just.  I  have  every  confidence  in  his  judg- 
ment, and  if  he  should  happen  to  die  intestate,  which  I 
think  very  probable,  they  would  inherit  equally.  There 
is  enough  for  any  number  of  them." 

"  Unless  he  loses  or  spends  it,"  groaned  the  lawyer. 

"  He  is  much  more  likely  to  save  it  from  some  mis- 
taken sense  of  duty,  and  to  live  entirely  on  what  he 


332  LOVE  ETERNAL 

has  of  his  own,"  remarked  Isobel.  "  If  so,  it  cannot 
be  helped,  and  no  doubt  the  poor  will  benefit.  Now 
if  you  thoroughly  understand  what  I  wish  done,  I 
think  that  is  all.  I  have  to  see  the  dressmaker  again, 
so  good-bye." 

"  Executors  ?  "  gasped  the  lawyer. 

"  Public  Trustee,"  said  Isobel,  over  her  shoulder. 

"  They  say  that  she  is  one  of  these  Suffragette 
women,  although  she  keeps  it  dark.  Well,  I  can  be- 
lieve it.  Anyway,  this  officer  is  tumbling  into  honey, 
and  there's  no  fool  like  a  woman  in  love,"  said  the 
lawyer  to  himself  as  he  packed  his  bag  of  papers. 

Isobel  was  quite  right.  The  question  of  settlements 
never  even  occurred  to  Godfrey.  He  was  aware,  how- 
ever, that  it  is  usual  for  a  bridegroom  to  make  the 
bride  a  present,  and  going  to  London,  walked  miser- 
ably up  and  down  Bond  Street  looking  into  shop 
windows  until  he  was  tired.  At  one  moment  he  fixed 
his  affections  upon  an  old  Queen  Anne  porringer, 
which  his  natural  taste  told  him  to  be  quite  beautiful; 
but  having  learned  from  the  dealer  that  it  was  meant 
for  the  mixing  of  infant's  pap,  he  retired  abashed. 
Almost  next  door  he  saw  in  a  jeweller's  window 
a  necklace  of  small  pearls  priced  at  three  hundred 
pounds,  and  probably  worth  about  half  that  amount. 
Having  quite  a  handsome  balance  at  his  bank,  he 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  he  could  afford  this  and, 
going  in,  bought  it  at  once,  oblivious  of  the  fact  that 
Isobel  already  had  ropes  of  pearls  of  the  size  of  mar- 
rowfat peas.  However,  she  was  delighted  with  it, 
especially  when  she  saw  what  it  had  cost  him,  for  he 
had  never  thought  to  cut  the  sale  ticket  from  the  neck- 
lace. It  was  those  pearls,  and  not  the  marrowfat 


MARRIAGE  333 

peas,  that  Isobel  wore  upon  her  wedding  day.  Save 
for  the  little  ring  with  the  two  turquoise  hearts,  these 
were  her  only  ornament. 

A  question  arose  as  to  where  the  honeymoon,  or  so 
much  as  would  remain  of  one,  was  to  be  spent.  God- 
frey would  have  liked  to  go  to  Lucerne  and  visit  the 
Pasteur,  but  as  this  could  not  be  managed  in  war 
time,  suggested  London. 

"  Why  London  ?  "  exclaimed  Isobel. 

"  Only  because  most  ladies  like  theatres,  though  I 
confess  I  hate  them  myself." 

"  You  silly  man,"  she  answered.  "  Do  you  suppose, 
when  we  can  have  only  a  few  days  together,  that  I 
want  to  waste  time  in  theatres  ?  " 

In  the  end  it  was  settled  that  they  would  go  to 
London  for  a  night,  and  then  on  to  Cornwall,  which 
they  hoped  fondly  might  be  warm  at  that  time  of 
year. 

So  at  last,  on  the  twenty-fourth  day  of  December  of 
that  fateful  year  1914,  they  were  married  in  the  Abbey 
Church.  Isobel's  uncle,  the  one  with  whom  she  had 
stayed  in  Mexico,  and  who  had  retired  now  from  the 
Diplomatic  Service,  gave  her  away,  and  a  young  cousin 
of  hers  was  her  sole  bridesmaid,  for  the  ceremony 
was  of  the  sort  called  a  "  war  wedding."  Her  dress, 
however,  was  splendid  of  its  kind,  some  rich  thing  of 
flowing  broidered  silk  with  a  veil  of  wondrous  lace. 

Either  from  accident  or  by  design,  in  general  effect 
it  much  resembled  that  of  the  Plantagenet  lady  which 
once  she  had  copied  from  the  brass.  Perhaps,  being 
dissatisfied  with  her  former  effort,  she  determined  to 
repeat  it  on  a  more  splendid  scale,  or  perhaps  it  was  a 


334  LOVE  ETERNAL 

chance.  At  any  rate,  the  veil  raised  in  two  points 
from  her  head,  fell  down  like  that  of  the  nameless 
lady,  while  from  her  elbows  long  narrow  sleeves  hung 
almost  to  the  ground.  Beautiful  Isobel  never  was,  but 
in  this  garb,  with  happiness  shining  in  her  eyes,  her 
tall,  well-made  form  looked  imposing  and  even  stately, 
an  effect  that  was  heightened  by  her  deliberate  and  dig- 
nified movements.  The  great  church  was  crowded, 
for  the  news  of  this  wedding  had  spread  far  and  wide, 
and  its  romantic  character  attracted  people  both  from 
the  neighbouring  villages  and  the  little  town. 

Set  in  the  splendid  surroundings  of  the  old  Abbey, 
through  the  painted  windows  of  which  gleamed  the 
winter  sun,  Godfrey  in  his  glittering  Indian  uniform 
and  orders,  and  his  bride  in  her  quaint,  rich  dress, 
made  a  striking  pair  at  the  altar  rail.  Indeed  it  is 
doubtful  whether  since  hundreds  of  years  ago  the 
old  Crusader  and  his  fair  lady,  whose  ashes  were  be- 
neath their  feet,  stood  where  they  stood  for  this 
same  purpose  of  marriage,  clad  in  coat  of  mail  and 
gleaming  silk,  a  nobler-looking  couple  had  been  wed 
in  that  ancient  fane. 

Oddly  enough,  with  the  strange  inconsequence  of 
the  human  mind,  especially  in  moments  of  suppressed 
excitement,  it  was  of  this  nameless  lady  and  her  lord 
that  Godfrey  kept  thinking  throughout  the  service, 
once  more  wondering  why  they  were  and  what  was 
their  story.  He  remembered  too  how  the  graves  of 
that  unknown  pair  had  been  connected  with  his  for- 
tunes and  those  of  Isobel.  Here  it  was  that  they 
plighted  the  troth  which  now  they  were  about  to  fulfil. 
Here  it  was  that  he  had  bidden  her  farewell  before 
he  went  to  Switzerland.  He  could  see  her  now  as  she 


MARRIAGE  335 

was  then,  tall  and  slender  In  her  white  robe,  and  the 
red  ray  of  sunshine  gleaming  like  a  splash  of  blood 
upon  her  breast.  He  glanced  at  her  by  his  side  as 
she  turned  towards  him,  and  behold!  there  it  shone 
again,  splendid  yet  ominous. 

He  shivered  a  little  at  the  sight  of  it — he  knew  not 
why — and  was  glad  when  a  dense  black  snow-cloud  hid 
the  face  of  the  sun  and  killed  it. 

It  was  over  at  last,  and  they  were  man  and  wife. 

"  Do  these  words  and  vows  and  ceremonies  make 
any  difference  to  you?  "  she  whispered  as  they  walked 
side  by  side  down  the  church,  the  observed  of  all  ob- 
servers. "  They  do  not  to  me.  I  feel  as  though  all 
the  rites  in  all  the  world  would  be  quite  powerless  and 
without  meaning  in  face  of  the  fact  of  our  eternal 
unity." 

It  was  a  queer  little  speech  for  her  to  make,  with  its 
thought  and  balance;  Godfrey  often  reflected  after- 
wards, expressing  as  it  did  a  great  truth  so  far  as  they 
were  concerned,  since  no  ceremonial,  however  hal- 
lowed, could  increase  their  existing  oneness  or  take 
away  therefrom.  At  the  moment,  however,  he 
scarcely  understood  it,  and  only  smiled  in  reply. 

Then  they  went  into  the  vestry  and  signed  their 
names,  and  everything  was  over.  Here  Godfrey's 
former  trustee,  General  Cubitte,  grown  very  old  now, 
but  as  bustling  and  emphatic  as  of  yore,  who  signed 
the  book  as  one  of  the  witnesses,  buttonholed  him.  At 
some  length  he  explained  how  he  had  been  to  see  an 
eminent  swell  at  the  War  Office,  a  "  dug-out "  who 
was  an  old  friend  of  his,  and  impressed  upon  him  his, 
Godfrey's,  extraordinary  abilities  as  a  soldier,  point- 
ing out  that  he  ought  at  once  to  be  given  command  of 


336  LOVE  ETERNAL 

a  regiment,  and  how  the  eminent  swell  had  promised 
that  he  would  see  to  it  forthwith.  Oh!  if  he  had  only 
known,  he  would  not  have  thanked  him. 

At  last  they  started  for  the  motor-car  which  was  to 
drive  them  in  pomp  three  hundred  yards  to  the  Hall. 
Some  delay  occurred.  Another  motor-car  at  the 
church  gate  would  not  start,  and  had  to  be  drawn  out 
of  the  way.  Three  or  four  of  the  nurses  from  the  hos- 
pital and  certain  local  ladies  surrounded  Isobel,  and 
burst  into  talk  and  congratulations,  thus  separating 
her  from  Godfrey. 

Overhearing  complimentary  remarks  about  himself, 
he  drew  back  a  little  from  the  porch  into  the  church 
which  had  now  emptied.  As  he  stood  there  someone 
tapped  him  on  the  shoulder.  The  touch  disturbed  him ; 
it  was  unpleasant  to  him  and  he  turned  impatiently  to 
see  from  whom  it  came.  There  in  front  of  him, 
bundled  up  in  a  rusty  black  cloak  of  which  the  hood 
covered  the  head,  was  a  short  fat  woman.  Her  face 
was  hidden,  but  from  the  cavernous  recesses  of  the 
hood  two  piercing  black  eyes  shone  like  to  those  of  a 
tiger  in  its  den.  After  all  those  years  Godfrey  recog- 
nised them  at  once;  indeed  subconsciously  he  had 
known  who  had  touched  him  even  before  he  turned. 
It  was  Madame  Riennes. 

"  Ah !  "  she  said,  in  her  hateful,  remembered  voice, 
"  so  my  little  Godfrey  who  has  grown  such  a  big  God- 
frey now — yes,  big  in  every  way,  had  recognition  of 
his  dear  Godmamma,  did  he?  Oh!  do  not  deny  it;  I 
saw  you  jump  with  joy.  Well,  I  knew  what  was  hap- 
pening— never  mind  how  I  knew — and  though  I  am  so 
poor  now,  I  travelled  here  to  assist  and  give  my 
felicitations.  Eleanor,  too,  she  sends  hers,  though  you 


MARRIAGE  337 

guess  of  what  kind  they  are,  for  remember,  as  I  told 
you  long  ago,  speerits  are  just  as  jealous  as  we  women, 
because,  you  see,  they  were  women  before  they  were 
speerits." 

"Thank  you,"  broke  in  Godfrey;  "I  am  afraid  I 
must  be  going." 

"  Oh !  yes.  You  are  in  a  great  hurry,  for  now  you 
have  got  the  plum,  my  Godfrey,  have  you  not,  and 
want  to  eat  it  ?  Well,  I  have  a  message  for  you,  suck 
it  hard,  for  very,  very  soon  you  come  to  the  stone, 
which  you  know  is  sharp  and  cold  with  no  taste,  and 
must  be  thrown  away.  Oh!  something  make  me  say 
this  too;  I  know  not  what.  Perhaps  that  stone  must 
be  planted,  not  thrown  away;  yes,  I  think  it  must  be 
planted,  and  that  it  will  grow  into  the  most  beautiful 
of  plum  trees  in  another  land." 

She  threw  back  her  hood,  showing  her  enormous 
forehead  and  flabby,  sunken  face,  which  looked  as 
though  she  had  lived  for  years  in  a  cellar,  and  yet  had 
about  it  an  air  of  inspiration.  "  Yes,"  she  went  on,  "  I 
see  that  tree  white  with  blossom.  I  see  it  bending  with 
the  golden  fruit — thousands  upon  thousands  of  fruits. 
Oh!  Godfrey,  it  is  the  Tree  of  Life,  and  underneath 
it  sit  you  and  that  lady  who  looks  like  a  queen,  and 
whom  you  love  so  dear,  and  look  into  each  other's 
eyes  for  ever  and  for  ever,  because  you  see  that  tree 
immortal  do  not  grow  upon  the  earth,  my  Godfrey." 

The  horrible  old  woman  made  him  afraid,  especially 
did  her  last  words  make  him  afraid,  because  he  who 
was  experienced  in  such  matters  knew  that  she  had 
come  with  no  intention  of  uttering  them,  that  they 
had  burst  from  her  lips  in  a  sudden  semi-trance  such  as 
overtakes  her  sisterhood  from  time  to  time.  He 


338  LOVE  ETERNAL 

knew  what  they  meant,  that  Death  had  marked  them, 
and  that  they  were  called  elsewhere,  he  or  Isobel,  or 
both. 

"  I  must  be  going,"  he  repeated. 

"  Yes,  yes,  you  must  be  going — you  who  are  going 
so  far.  The  hungry  fish  must  go  after  the  bait,  must  it 
not,  and  oh !  the  hook  it  does  not  see.  But,  my  leetle 
big  Godfrey,  one  moment.  Your  loving  old  God- 
mamma,  she  tumble  on  the  evil  day  ever  since  that 
cursed  old  Pasteur  " — here  her  pale  face  twisted  and 
her  eyes  grew  wicked — "  let  loose  the  law-dogs  on  me. 
I  want  money,  my  godson.  Here  is  an  address,"  and 
she  thrust  a  piece  of  paper  upon  him. 

He  threw  it  down  and  stamped  on  it.  In  his  pocket 
was  a  leather  case  full  of  bank-notes.  He  drew  out  a 
handful  of  them  and  held  them  to  her.  She  snatched 
them  as  a  hungry  hawk  snatches  meat,  with  a  fierce 
and  curious  swiftness. 

Then  at  last  he  escaped,  and  in  another  minute, 
amidst  the  cheers  of  the  crowd,  was  driving  away  at 
the  side  of  the  stately  Isobel. 

At  the  Hall,  where  one  of  the  wards  had  been  cleared 
for  the  purpose,  there  was  a  little  informal  reception, 
at  which  for  a  while  Godfrey  found  himself  officiat- 
ing alone,  since  Isobel  had  disappeared  with  General 
Cubitte  and  the  brother  officer  who  had  acted  as  his 
best  man.  When  at  length  they  returned,  he  asked  her 
where  she  had  been,  rather  sharply  perhaps,  for  his 
nerves  were  on  edge. 

"  To  see  to  some  business  with  the  lawyer,"  she 
answered. 

"What  business,  dear?"  he  inquired.  "I  thought 
you  settled  all  that  this  morning." 


MARRIAGE  339 

"  It  could  not  be  settled  this  morning,  Godfrey, 
because  a  will  can  only  be  signed  after  marriage." 

"  Good  gracious !  "  he  exclaimed.  "  Give  me  a  glass 
of  champagne." 

An  hour  later  they  were  motoring  to  London  alone, 
at  last  alone,  and  to  this  pair  Heaven  opened  its  seventh 
door. 

They  dined  in  the  private  sitting-room  of  the  suite 
which  under  the  inspiration  of  Isobel  he  had  taken  at 
a  London  hotel,  and  then  after  the  curious-eyed  waiters 
had  cleared  the  table,  sat  together  in  front  of  the 
fire,  hand  in  hand,  but  not  talking  very  much.  At 
length  Isobel  rose  and  they  embraced  each  other. 

"  I  am  going  to  bed  now,"  she  said ;  "  but  before  you 
come,  and  perhaps  we  forget  about  such  matters,  I 
want  you  to  kneel  down  with  me  and  say  a  prayer." 

He  obeyed  as  a  child  might,  though  wondering,  for 
somehow  he  had  never  connected  Isobel  and  Prayer 
in  his  mind.  There  they  knelt  in  front  of  the  fire,  as 
reverently  as  though  it  burned  upon  an  altar,  and 
Isobel  said  her  prayer  aloud.  It  ran  thus : 

"  O  Unknown  God  Whom  always  I  have  sought 
and  Whom  now  I  think  that  I  have  found,  or  am  near 
to  finding;  O  Power  that  sent  me  forth  to  taste  of  Life 
and  gather  Knowledge,  and  Who  at  Thine  own  hour 
wilt  call  me  back  again,  hear  the  prayer  of  Isobel  and 
of  Godfrey  her  lover.  This  is  what  they  ask  of  Thee : 
that  be  their  time  together  on  the  earth  long  or  short, 
it  may  endure  for  ever  in  the  lives  and  lands  beyond 
the  earth.  They  ask  also  that  all  their  sins,  known 
and  unknown,  great  or  small,  may  be  forgiven  them, 
and  that  with  Thy  gifts  they  may  do  good,  and  that  if 


340  LOVE  ETERNAL 

children  come  to  them,  they  may  be  blessed  in  such 
fashion  as  Thou  seest  well,  and  afterwards  endure 
with  them  through  all  the  existences  to  be.  O  Giver 
of  Life  and  Love  Eternal,  hear  this,  the  solemn  mar- 
riage prayer  of  Godfrey  and  of  Isobel." 

Then  she  rose  and  with  one  long  look,  left  him, 
seeming  to  his  eyes  no  more  a  woman,  as  ten  thousand 
women  are,  but  a  very  Fire  of  spiritual  love  incarnate 
in  a  veil  of  flesh. 


CHAPTER  XX 

ORDERS 

GODFREY  and  his  wife  never  went  to  Cornwall  after 
all,  for  on  Christmas  Day  the  weather  turned  so  bad 
and  travelling  was  so  difficult  that  they  determined  to 
stop  where  they  were  for  a  few  days. 

As  for  them  the  roof  of  this  London  hotel  had  be- 
come synonymous  with  that  of  the  crystal  dome  of 
heaven,  this  did  not  matter  in  the  least.  There  they 
sat  in  their  hideous,  over-gilded,  private  sitting-room, 
or,  when  the  weather  was  clear  enough,  went  for 
walks  in  the  Park,  and  once  to  the  South  Kensing- 
ton Museum,  where  they  enjoyed  themselves  very 
thoroughly. 

It  was  on  the  fourth  morning  after  their  marriage 
that  the  blow  fell.  Godfrey  had  waked  early,  and  lay 
watching  his  wife  at  his  side.  The  grey  light  from  the 
uncurtained  window,  which  they  had  opened  to  air  the 
over-heated  room,  revealed  her  in  outline  but  not  in 
detail  and  made  her  fine  face  mysterious,  framed  as  it 
was  in  her  yellow  hair.  He  watched  it  with  a  kind  of 
rapture,  till  at  length  she  sighed  and  stirred,  then 
began  to  murmur  in  her  sleep. 

"My  darling,"  she  whispered,  "oh!  my  darling, 
how  have  I  lived  without  you?  Well,  that  is  over, 
since  alive  or  dead  we  can  never  be  parted  more,  not 
really — not  really !  " 

Then  she  opened  her  grey  eyes  and  stretched  out 
341 


342  LOVE  ETERNAL 

her  arms  to  receive  him,  and  he  was  glad,  for  he 
seemed  to  be  listening  to  that  which  he  was  not  meant 
to  hear. 

A  little  later  there  came  a  knocking  at  the  door,  and 
a  page  boy's  squeaky  voice  without  said: 

"Telegram  for  you,  Sir." 

Godfrey  called  to  him  to  put  it  down,  but  Isobel 
turned  pale  and  shivered. 

"  What  can  it  be  ?  "  she  said,  clasping  him.  "  No 
one  knows  our  address." 

"  Oh,  yes,  they  do,"  he  answered.  "  You  forget 
you  telephoned  to  the  Hall  yesterday  afternoon  about 
the  hospital  business  you  had  forgotten  and  gave  our 
number,  which  would  be  quite  enough." 

"  So  I  did,  like  a  fool,"  she  exclaimed,  looking  as 
though  she  were  going  to  cry. 

"  Don't  be  frightened,  dear,"  he  said.  "  I  dare  say 
it  is  nothing.  You  see  we  have  no  one  to  lose." 

"  No,  no,  I  feel  sure  it  is  a  great  deal  and — we  have 
each  other.  Read  it  quickly  and  get  the  thing  over." 

So  he  rose  and  fetched  the  yellow  envelope  which 
reposed  upon  Isobel's  boots  outside  the  door.  A  glance 
showed  him  that  it  was  marked  "  official,"  and  then 
his  heart,  too,  began  to  sink.  Returning  to  the  bed,  he 
switched  on  the  electric  light  and  opened  the  envelope. 

"  There's  enough  of  it,"  he  said,  drawing  out  three 
closely  written  sheets. 

"  Read,  read  it !  "  answered  Isobel. 

So  he  read.  It  was  indeed  a  very  long  telegram, 
one  of  such  as  are  commonly  sent  at  the  expense  of  the 
country,  and  it  came  from  the  War  Office.  The  gist 
of  it  was  that  attempts  had  been  made  to  communicate 
wilh  him  at  an  address  he  had  given  in  Cornwall,  but 


ORDERS  343 

the  messages  had  been  returned,  and  finally  inquiry  at 
Hawk's  Hall  had  given  a  clue.  He  was  directed  to 
report  himself  "  early  to-morrow  "  (the  telegram  had 
been  sent  off  on  the  previous  night)  to  take  up  an  ap- 
pointment which  would  be  explained  to  him.  There 
was,  it  added,  no  time  to  lose,  as  the  ship  was  due  to 
sail  within  twenty-four  hours. 

"  There !  "  said  Isobel,  "  I  knew  it  was  something 
of  the  sort.  This,"  she  added  with  a  flash  of  inspira- 
tion, "  is  the  result  of  the  meddling  of  that  old  General 
Cubitte.  You  see  it  must  be  a  distant  appointment,  or 
they  would  not  talk  about  the  ship  being  due  to  sail." 

"  I  dare  say,"  he  answered  as  cheerfully  as  he  could. 
"  Such  things  are  to  be  expected  in  these  times,  are 
they  not?" 

"  Too  bad !  "  she  went  on,  "  at  any  rate  they  might 
have  let  you  have  your  leave." 

Then  they  rose  because  they  must  and  made  pre- 
tence to  eat  some  breakfast,  after  which  they  departed 
in  one  of  Isobel's  motors,  which  had  been  summoned 
by  telephone  from  her  London  house,  to  the  Depart- 
ment indicated  in  the  telegram. 

They  need  not  have  hurried,  since  the  important 
person  whom  Godfrey  must  see  did  not  arrive  for  a 
full  hour,  during  all  which  time  Isobel  sat  waiting  in 
the  motor.  However,  when  he  appeared  he  was  very 
gracious. 

"  Oh !  yes,"  he  said,  "  you  are  Major  Knight,  and 
we  have  a  mutual  friend  in  old  General  Cubitte.  In 
fact  it  was  he  who  put  an  idea  into  our  heads,  for 
which,  as  I  understand  you  are  just  married — a  pretty 
hunt  you  gave  us,  by  the  way — perhaps  you  won't 
altogether  bless  him,  since  otherwise,  as  you  are  only 


344  LOVE  ETERNAL 

just  recovered  from  your  wounds,  I  have  no  doubt  we 
could  have  given  you  a  month  or  two  extra  leave. 
However,  I  know  you  are  very  keen,  for  I've  looked 
up  your  record,  and  private  affairs  must  give  way, 
mustn't  they?  Also,  as  it  happens,  Mrs.  Knight  need 
not  be  anxious,  as  we  are  not  going  to  send  you  into 
any  particular  danger ;  I  dare  say  you  won't  see  a  shot 
fired. 

"  Look  here,  Major,  you  have  been  a  Staff  officer, 
haven't  you,  and  it  is  reported  of  you  that  you  always 
got  on  extremely  well  with  natives,  and  especially  in 
some  semi-political  billets  which  you  have  held  when 
you  had  to  negotiate  with  their  chiefs.  Well,  to  cut  it 
short,  a  man  of  the  kind  is  wanted  in  East  Africa, 
coming  out  direct  from  home  with  military  authority. 
He  will  have  to  keep  in  touch  with  the  big  chiefs  in  our 
own  territory  and  arrange  for  them  to  supply  men  for 
working  or  fighting,  etc.,  and,  if  possible,  open  negotia- 
tions with  those  in  German  territory  and  win  them 
over  to  us.  Further,  as  you  know,  there  are  an  enor- 
mous number  of  Indians  settled  in  East  Africa,  with 
whom  you  would  be  particularly  qualified  to  deal. 
We  should  look  to  you  to  make  the  most  of  these  in 
any  way  required.  You  see,  the  appointment  is  a 
special  one,  and  if  the  work  is  well  done,  as  I  have 
no  doubt  it  will  be,  I  am  almost  sure,"  he  added  sig- 
nificantly, "  that  the  results  to  the  officer  concerned 
will  be  special  also. 

"  Now,  I  don't  ask  you  if  you  decline  the  appoint- 
ment, because  we  are  certain  in  time  of  war  you  will 
not  do  so,  and  I  think  that's  all,  except  that  you  will 
be  accredited  ostensibly  to  the  staff  of  the  General  in 
command  in  East  Africa,  and  also  receive  private  in- 


ORDERS  345 

structions,  of  which  the  General  and  the  local  Gov- 
ernments will  have  copies.  Now,  do  you  understand 
everything,  especially  that  your  powers  will  be  very 
wide  and  that  you  will  have  to  act  largely  on  your 
own  discretion  ?  " 

"  I  think  so,  Sir,"  said  Godfrey,  concealing  the  com- 
plete confusion  of  his  mind  as  well  as  he  was  able. 
"  At  any  rate,  I  shall  pick  things  up  as  I  go  along." 

"  Yes,  that's  the  right  spirit — pick  things  up  as  you 
go  on,  as  we  are  all  doing  in  this  war.  I  have  to 
pick  'em  up,  I  can  tell  you.  And  now  I  won't  keep 
you  any  longer,  for,  you  see,  you'll  have  to  hustle.  I 
believe  a  special  boat  for  East  Africa  with  stores,  etc., 
sails  to-morrow  morning,  so  you'll  have  to  take  the 
last  train  to  Southampton.  An  officer  will  meet  you  at 
Waterloo  with  your  instructions,  and  if  he  misses  you, 
will  go  on  down  to  the  boat.  Also,  you  will  have  details 
of  your  pay  and  allowances,  which  will  be  liberal, 
though  I  am  told  you  are  not  likely  to  want  money  in 
future.  So  good-bye  and  good  luck  to  you.  You  must 
report  officially  through  the  General  or  the  local  Gov- 
ernors, but  you  will  also  be  able  to  write  privately 
to  us.  Indeed,  please  remember  that  we  shall  expect 
you  to  do  so." 

So  Godfrey  went,  but  as  he  neared  the  door  the  big 
man  called  after  him : 

"  By  the  way,  I  forgot  to  congratulate  you.  No, 
no,  I  don't  mean  on  your  marriage,  but  on  your  pro- 
motion. You've  been  informed,  haven't  you?  Well, 
it  will  be  gazetted  to-morrow  or  in  a  day  or  two,  and 
letters  will  be  sent  to  you  with  the  other  papers." 

"What  promotion?"  asked  Godfrey. 

"  Oh!  to  be  a  colonel,  of  course.    You  did  very  well 


346  LOVE  ETERNAL 

out  there  in  France,  you  know,  and  it  is  thought  ad- 
visable that  the  officer  undertaking  this  special  work 
should  have  a  colonel's  rank,  just  to  begin  with. 
Good-bye." 

So  Godfrey  went,  and  said  vaguely  to  the  waiting 
Isobel : 

"  I'm  afraid,  dear,  that  I  shall  have  to  ask  you  to 
help  me  to  do  some  shopping.  I  think  there  are  some 
stores  near  here.  We  had  better  drive  to  them." 

"  Tell  me  everything,"  said  Isobel. 

So  he  told  her,  and  when  he  had  finished  she  said 
slowly : 

"  It  is  bad  enough,  but  I  suppose  it  might  be  worse. 
Will  they  let  me  go  with  you  to  Southampton?  " 

"  I  expect  so,"  he  answered.  "  At  any  rate,  we  will 
try  it  on.  I  think  it  is  an  ordinary  train,  and  you  have 
a  right  to  take  a  ticket." 

Then  they  shopped,  all  day  they  shopped,  with  the 
result,  since  money  can  do  much,  that  when  they 
reached  Waterloo  his  baggage  containing  everything 
needful,  or  at  least  nearly  everything,  was  already 
waiting  for  him.  So  was  the  messenger  with  the 
promised  papers,  including  a  formal  communication 
notifying  to  him  that  he  was  now  a  lieutenant-colonel. 

"  And  to  think  that  they  have  painted  '  Major ' 
on  those  tin  cases ! "  said  Isobel  regretfully,  for  no 
objection  had  been  raised  to  her  accompanying  God- 
frey, with  whom  she  was  seated  in  a  reserved 
carriage. 

They  reached  Southampton  about  midnight,  and  on 
Godfrey  presenting  himself  and  asking  when  the  boat 
sailed  he  was  informed  that  this  was  uncertain,  but 
probably  within  the  next  week.  Then  remembering 


ORDERS  347 

all  he  had  gone  through  that  day,  he  swore  as  a  man 
will,  but  Isobel  rejoiced  inwardly,  oh!  how  she  re- 
joiced, though  all  she  said  was  that  it  would  give  him 
time  to  complete  his  shopping. 

Save  for  the  advancing  shadow  of  separation  and  a 
constant  stream  of  telegrams  and  telephone  messages 
to  and  from  his  chiefs  in  London,  which  occupied 
many  of  the  hours,  these  were  very  happy  days,  es- 
pecially as  in  the  end  they  spread  themselves  out  to  the 
original  limit  of  his  leave. 

"  At  least  we  have  not  been  cheated,"  said  Isobel 
when  at  last  they  stood  together  on  the  deck  of  the 
ship,  waiting  for  the  second  bell  to  ring,  "  and  others 
are  worse  off.  I  believe  those  two  poor  people,"  and 
she  pointed  to  a  young  officer  and  his  child-like  bride, 
"  were  only  married  yesterday." 

The  scene  on  the  ship  was  dreary,  for  many  were 
going  in  her  to  the  various  theatres  of  war,  Egypt, 
Africa  and  other  places,  and  sad,  oh!  sad  were  the 
good-byes  upon  that  bitter  winter  afternoon.  Some 
of  the  women  cried,  especially  those  of  the  humbler 
class.  But  Isobel  would  not  cry.  She  remained  quite 
calm  to  the  last,  arranging  a  few  flowers  and  unpack- 
ing a  travelling  bag  in  Godfrey's  cabin,  for  as  a 
colonel  he  had  one  to  himself. 

Then  the  second  bell  rang,  and  to  the  ears  upon 
which  its  strident  clamour  fell  the  trump  of  doom  could 
not  have  been  more  awful. 

"  Good-bye,  my  darling,"  she  said,  "  good-bye,  and 
remember  what  I  have  told  you,  that  near  or  far, 
living  or  dead,  we  can  never  really  be  apart  again, 
for  ours  is  the  Love  Eternal  given  to  us  in  the  Be- 
ginning." 


348  LOVE  ETERNAL 

"  Yes,"  he  answered  briefly,  "  I  know  that  it  is  so 
and — enduring  for  ever!  God  bless  us  both  as  He 
sees  best." 

The  ship  cast  off,  and  Isobel  stood  in  the  evening 
light  watching  from  the  quay  till  Godfrey  vanished 
and  the  vessel  which  bore  him  was  swallowed  up  in  the 
shadows.  Then  she  went  back  to  the  hotel  and,  throw- 
ing herself  upon  that  widowed  bed,  kissed  the  place 
where  his  head  had  lain,  and  wept,  ah !  how  she  wept, 
for  her  joy-days  were  done  and  her  heart  was  breaking 
in  her. 

After  this  Isobel  took  a  night  train  back  to  town 
and,  returning  to  Hawk's  Hall,  threw  herself  with  the 
energy  that  was  remarkable  in  her,  into  the  manage- 
ment of  her  hospital  and  many  another  work  and  char- 
ity connected  with  the  war.  For  it  was  only  in  work 
that  she  could  forget  herself  and  her  aching  loneliness. 

Godfrey  had  a  comfortable  and  a  prosperous  voy- 
age, since  it  was  almost  before  the  days  of  sub- 
marines, at  any  rate  so  far  as  passenger  steamers  were 
concerned,  and  they  saw  no  enemy  ships.  Therefore, 
within  little  more  than  a  month  he  landed  on  the  hot 
shores  of  Mombasa,  and  could  cable  to  Isobel  that  he 
was  safe  and  well  and  receive  her  loving  answer. 

His  next  business  was  to  report  himself  in  the 
proper  quarter,  which  he  did.  Those  over  him  seemed 
quite  bewildered  as  to  what  he  had  come  for  or  what 
he  was  to  do,  and  could  only  suggest  that  he  should 
travel  to  Nairobi  and  Uganda  and  put  himself  in  touch 
with  the  civil  authorities.  This  he  did  also  and,  as  a 
result,  formulated  a  certain  scheme  of  action,  to  which 
his  military  superiors  assented,  intimating  that  he 


ORDERS  349 

might  do  as  he  liked,  so  long  as  he  did  not  interfere 
with  them. 

What  happened  to  him  may  be  very  briefly  de- 
scribed. In  the  end  he  started  to  visit  a  great  chief  on 
the  borders  of  German  East  Africa,  but  in  British 
territory,  a  man  whose  loyalty  was  rumoured  to  be 
doubtful.  This  chief,  Jaga  by  name,  was  a  professed 
Christian,  and  at  his  town  there  lived  a  missionary 
of  the  name  of  Tafelett,  who  had  built  a  church  there 
and  was  said  to  have  much  influence  over  him.  So 
with  the  Reverend  Mr.  Tafelett  Godfrey  communi- 
cated by  runners,  saying  that  he  was  coming  to  visit 
him.  Accordingly  he  started  with  a  guard  of  native 
troops,  a  coloured  interpreter  and  some  servants,  but 
without  any  white  companion,  since  the  attack  on  Ger- 
man territory  was  beginning  and  no  one  could  be 
spared  to  go  with  him  upon  a  diplomatic  mission. 

The  journey  was  long  and  arduous,  involving  many 
days  of  marching  across  the  East  African  veld  and 
through  its  forests,  where  game  of  all  sorts  was  ex- 
traordinarily plentiful,  and  at  night  they  were  sur- 
rounded by  lions.  At  length,  however,  with  the 
exception  of  one  man  who  remained  with  the  lions, 
they  arrived  safely  at  the  town  of  Jaga  and  were 
met  by  Mr.  Tafelett,  who  took  Godfrey  into  his  house, 
a  neat  thatched  building  with  a  wide  verandah  that 
stood  by  the  church,  which  was  a  kind  of  whitewashed 
shed,  also  thatched. 

Mr.  Tafelett  proved  to  be  a  clergyman  of  good 
birth  and  standing,  one  of  those  earnest,  saint-like 
souls  who  follow  literally  the  scriptural  injunction  and 
abandon  all  to  advance  the  cause  of  their  Master  in 
the  dark  places  of  the  earth.  A  tall,  thin,  nervous- 


350  LOVE  ETERNAL 

looking  man  of  not  much  over  thirty  years  of  age ;  one, 
too,  possessed  of  considerable  private  means,  he  had 
some  five  years  before  given  up  a  good  living  in 
England  in  order  to  obey  what  he  considered  to  be 
his  "  call."  Being  sent  to  this  outlying  post,  he  found 
it  in  a  condition  of  the  most  complete  savagery,  and 
worked  as  few  have  done.  He  built  the  church  with 
native  labour,  furnishing  it  beautifully  inside,  mostly 
at  his  own  expense.  He  learned  the  local  languages, 
he  started  a  school,  he  combated  the  witch-doctors  and 
medicine-men. 

Finally  he  met  with  his  reward  in  the  conversion  of 
the  young  chief  Jaga,  which  was  followed  by  that  of 
a  considerable  proportion  of  his  people. 

But  here  came  the  trouble.  The  bulk  of  the  tribe, 
which  was  large  and  powerful,  did  not  share  their 
chief's  views.  For  instance,  his  uncle,  Alulu,  the 
head  rain-maker  and  witch-doctor,  differed  from  them 
very  emphatically.  He  was  shrewd  enough  to  see 
that  the  triumph  of  Christianity  meant  his  destruction, 
also  the  abandonment  of  all  their  ancient  customs. 
He  harangued  the  tribe  in  secret,  asking  them  if  they 
wished  to  bring  upon  themselves  the  vengeance  of 
their  ancestral  and  other  spirits  and  to  go  through 
their  days  as  the  possessors  of  only  one  miserable  wife, 
questions  to  which  they  answered  that  emphatically 
they  did  not.  So  the  tribe  was  rent  in  two,  and  by 
far  the  smaller  half  clung  to  Jaga,  to  whom  the  dim, 
turbulent  heathen  thousands  beneath  his  rule  rendered 
but  a  lip  service. 

Then  came  the  war,  and  Alulu  and  his  great  follow- 
ing saw  their  opportunity.  Why  should  they  not  be 
rid  of  Jaga  and  the  Christian  teacher  with  his  new- 


ORDERS  351 

fangled  notions?  If  it  could  be  done  in  no  other  way, 
why  should  they  not  move  across  the  border  which 
was  close  by,  into  German  territory?  The  Germans, 
at  any  rate,  would  not  bother  them  about  such  matters ; 
under  their  rule  they  might  live  as  their  forefathers 
had  done  from  the  beginning,  and  have  as  many 
wives  as  they  chose  without  being  called  all  sorts  of 
ugly  names. 

This  was  the  position  when  Godfrey  arrived.  His 
coming  made  a  great  sensation.  He  was  reported  to 
be  a  very  big  lord  indeed,  as  big,  or  bigger  than  the 
King's  governor  himself.  Alulu  put  it  about  that  he 
had  come  to  make  a  soldier  of  every  fit  man  and  to 
enslave  the  women  and  the  elders  to  work  on  the  roads 
or  in  dragging  guns.  The  place  seethed  with  secret 
ferment. 

Mr.  Tafelett  knew  something  of  all  this  through 
Jaga,  who  was  genuinely  frightened,  and  communi- 
cated it  to  Godfrey.  In  the  result  a  meeting  of  all 
the  headmen  was  held,  which  was  attended  by  thou- 
sands of  the  people.  Godfrey  spoke  through  his  in- 
terpreter, saying  that  in  this  great  war  the  King  of 
England  required  their  help,  and  generally  set  out  the 
objects  of  his  mission,  remarks  that  were  received  in 
respectful  silence.  Then  Alulu  spoke,  devoting  himself 
chiefly  to  an  attack  upon  the  Christian  faith  and  on 
the  interference  of  the  white  teacher  with  their  cus- 
toms, that,  he  observed,  had  resulted  in  their  ancestral 
spirits  cursing  them  with  the  worst  drought  they  had 
experienced  for  years,  which  in  the  circumstances  he, 
Alulu,  could  and  would  do  nothing  to  alleviate.  How 
could  they  fight  and  work  for  the  Great  King  when 
their  stomachs  were  pinched  with  hunger  owing  to  the 


352  LOVE  ETERNAL 

witchcraft  and  magical  rites  which  the  white  teacher 
celebrated  in  the  church? 

"  How,  indeed  ?  "  shouted  the  heathen  section,  al- 
though in  fact  their  season  had  been  very  good ;  while 
the  Christians,  feeling  themselves  in  a  minority,  were 
silent. 

Then  the  Chief,  Jaga,  spoke.  He  traversed  all  the 
arguments  of  Alulu,  whom  he  denounced  in  no  meas- 
ured terms,  saying  that  he  was  plotting  against  him. 
Finally  he  came  down  heavily  on  the  side  of  the  Brit- 
ish, remarking  that  he  knew  who  were  the  would-be 
traitors  and  that  they  should  suffer  in  due  course. 

"  It  has  been  whispered  in  my  ears,"  he  concluded, 
"  that  there  is  a  plot  afoot  against  my  friend,  the  white 
Teacher,  who  has  done  us  all  so  much  good.  It  has 
even  been  whispered  that  there  are  those,"  here  he 
looked  hard  at  Alulu,  "  who  have  declared  that  it 
would  be  well  to  kill  this  great  white  Lord  who  is  our 
guest,"  and  he  pointed  to  Godfrey  with  his  little  chief's 
staff,  "  so  that  he  may  not  return  to  tell  who  are  the 
true  traitors  among  the  people  of  Jaga.  I  say  to  you 
who  have  thought  such  things,  that  this  Lord  is  the 
greatest  of  all  lords,  and  as  well  might  you  lay  hands 
on  our  father,  the  mighty  King  of  England  himself, 
as  upon  this  his  friend  and  counsellor.  If  a  drop  of 
his  blood  is  shed,  then  surely  the  King's  armies  will 
come,  and  we  shall  die,  every  one  of  us,  the  innocent 
and  the  guilty  together.  For  terrible  will  be  the  ven- 
geance of  the  King." 

This  outburst  made  a  great  impression,  for  all  the 
multitude  cried : 

"  It  is  so !  We  know  that  it  is  so,"  and  Alulu  inter- 
posed that  he  would  as  soon  think  of  murdering  his 


ORDERS  353 

own  mother  (who,  Mr.  Tafelett  whispered  to  Godfrey, 
had  been  dead  these  many  years)  as  of  touching  a 
hair  of  the  great  white  chief's  head.  On  the  contrary, 
it  was  their  desire  to  do  everything  that  he  ordered 
them.  But  concerning  the  matter  of  the  new  custom 
of  having  one  wife  only,  etc. 

This  brought  Mr.  Tafelett  to  his  feet,  for  on  mo- 
nogamy he  was  especially  strong,  and  the  meeting 
ended  in  a  theological  discussion  which  nearly  resulted 
in  blows  between  the  factions.  Finally  it  was  ad- 
journed for  a  week,  when  it  was  arranged  that  an 
answer  should  be  given  to  Godfrey's  demands. 

Three  nights  later  an  answer  was  given  and  one 
of  a  terrible  sort. 

Shortly  after  sundown  Godfrey  was  sitting  in  the 
missionary's  house  writing  a  report.  Mr.  Tafelett, 
it  being  Sunday,  was  holding  an  evening  service-  in 
the  church,  at  which  Jaga  and  most  of  the  Christians 
were  present.  Suddenly  a  tumult  arose,  and  the  air 
was  rent  with  savage  shouts  and  shrieks.  Godfrey 
sprang  up  and  snatched  his  revolver  just  as  some  of 
his  servants  arrived  and  announced  that  the  people 
in  the  church  were  being  killed.  Acting  on  his  first 
impulse,  he  ran  to  the  place,  calling  to  his  guard  to 
follow  him,  which  they  did  so  tardily  that  he  entered 
it  alone.  Here  a  sight  of  horror  met  his  eyes. 

The  building  was  full  of  dead  and  dying  people. 
By  the  altar,  dressed  in  his  savage  witch-doctor's  gear, 
stood  Alulu,  a  lamp  in  his  hand,  with  which  evidently 
he  had  been  firing  the  church,  for  tongues  of  flame 
ran  up  the  walls.  On  the  altar  itself  was  something 
that  had  a  white  cloth  thrown  over  it,  as  do  the  sacred 
vessels.  Catching  sight  of  Godfrey,  with  a  yell  the 


354  LOVE  ETERNAL 

brute  tore  away  the  napkin,  revealing  the  severed  head 
of  Mr.  Tafelett,  whose  surplice-draped  body  Godfrey 
now  distinguished  lying  in  the  shadows  on  one  side 
of  the  altar! 

"  Here  is  the  white  medicine-man's  magic  wine," 
he  screamed,  pointing  to  the  blood  that  ran  down  the 
broidered  frontal.  "  Come,  drink !  come,  drink !  " 

Godfrey  ran  forward  up  the  church,  his  pistol  in 
his  hand.  When  he  reached  the  chancel  he  stopped 
and  fired  at  the  mouthing,  bedizened  devil  who  was 
dancing  hideously  in  front  of  the  altar.  The  heavy 
service-revolver  bullet  struck  him  in  some  mortal  place, 
for  he  leapt  into  the  air,  grabbed  at  the  altar  cloth 
and  fell  to  the  ground.  There  he  lay  still,  covered 
by  the  cloth,  with  the  massive  brass  crucifix  resting 
face  downwards  on  his  breast  and  the  murdered  man's 
head  lying  at  his  side — as  though  it  were  looking  at 
him. 

This  was  the  last  sight  that  Godfrey  saw  for  many 
a  day,  for  just  then  a  spear  pierced  his  breast,  also 
something  struck  him  on  the  temple.  A  curio.us  recol- 
lection rose  in  his  mind  of  the  head  of  a  mummy  after 
the  Pasteur  had  broken  it  off,  rolling  along  the  floor 
in  the  flat  at  Lucerne.  Then  he  thought  he  heard 
Madame  Riennes  laughing,  after  which  he  remem- 
bered no  more  for  a  while ;  it  might  have  been  a  thou- 
sand years,  or  it  might  have  been  a  minute,  for  he 
had  passed  into  a  state  that  takes  no  reck  of  time. 

Godfrey  began  to  dream.  He  dreamed  that  he  was 
travelling;  that  he  was  in  a  house,  and  then,  a  long 
while  afterwards,  that  he  was  making  a  journey  by  sea. 

Another  vacuum  of  nothingness  and  he  dreamed 


ORDERS  355 

again,  this  time  very  vividly.  Now  his  dream  was 
that  he  had  come  to  Egypt  and  was  stretched  on  a 
bed  in  a  room,  through  the  windows  of  which  he 
could  see  the  Pyramids  quite  close  at  hand.  More, 
he  seemed  to  become  acquainted  with  all  their  history. 
He  saw  them  in  the  building;  multitudes  of  brown 
men  dragging  huge  blocks  of  stone  up  a  slope  of  sand. 
He  saw  them  finished  one  by  one,  and  all  the  cere- 
monies of  the  worship  with  which  they  were  connected. 
Dead  Pharaohs  were  laid  to  rest  there  beneath  his 
eyes,  living  Pharaohs  prayed  within  their  chapels  and 
made  oblation  to  the  spirits  of  those  who  had  gone 
before  them,  while  ever  the  white-robed,  shaven  priests 
chanted  in  his  ears. 

Then  all  passed,  and  he  saw  them  mighty  as  ever, 
but  deserted,  standing  there  in  the  desert,  the  monu- 
ments of  a  forgotten  greatness,  till  at  length  a  new 
people  came  and  stripped  off  their  marble  coverings. 

These  things  he  remembered  afterwards,  but  there 
were  many  more  that  he  forgot. 

Again  Godfrey  dreamed,  a  strange  and  beautiful 
dream  which  went  on  from  day  to  day.  It  was  that 
he  was  very  ill  and  that  Isobel  had  come  to  nurse  him. 
She  came  quite  suddenly  and  at  first  seemed  a  little 
frightened  and  disturbed,  but  afterwards  very  happy 
indeed.  This  went  on  for  a  while,  till  suddenly  there 
struck  him  a  sense  of  something  terrible  that  had  hap- 
pened, of  an  upheaval  of  conditions,  of  a  wrenching 
asunder  of  ties,  of  change  utter  and  profound. 

Then  while  he  mourned  because  she  was  not  there, 
Isobel  came  again,  but  different.  The  difference  was 
indefinable,  but  it  was  undoubted.  Her  appearance 
seemed  to  have  changed  somewhat,  and  in  the  intervals 


3$6  LOVE  ETERNAL 

between  her  comings  he  could  never  remember  how 
she  had  been  clothed,  except  for  two  things  which 
she  always  seemed  to  wear,  the  little  ring  with  the 
turquoise  hearts,  though  oddly  enough,  not  her  wed- 
ding ring,  and  the  string  of  small  pearls  which  he 
had  given  her  when  they  were  married,  and  knew 
again  by  the  clasp,  that  was  fashioned  in  a  lover's 
knot  of  gold.  Her  voice,  too,  seemed  changed,  or 
rather  he  did  not  hear  her  voice,  since  it  appeared  to 
speak  within  him,  in  his  consciousness,  not  without  to 
his  ears.  She  told  him  all  sorts  of  strange  things, 
about  a  wonderful  land  in  which  they  would  live  to- 
gether, and  the  home  that  she  was  making  ready  for 
him,  and  the  trees  and  flowers  growing  around  it, 
that  were  unlike  any  of  which  Godfrey  had  ever 
heard.  Also  she  said  that  there  were  many  other 
matters  whereof  she  would  wish  to  speak  to  him, 
only  she  might  not. 

Finally  there  came  a  vivid  dream  in  which  she  told 
him  that  soon  he  would  wake  up  to  the  world  again 
for  a  little  while  (she  seemed  to  lay  emphasis  on  this 
"little  while")  and,  if  he  could  not  find  her  in  it, 
that  he  must  not  grieve  at  all,  since  although  their 
case  seemed  sad,  it  was  much  better  than  he  could 
conceive.  In  his  dream  she  made  him  promise  that 
he  would  not  grieve,  and  he  did  so,  wondering.  At 
this  she  smiled,  looking  more  beautiful  than  ever  he 
could  have  conceived  her  to  be.  Then  she  spoke  these 
words,  always,  as  it  appeared,  within  him,  printing 
them,  as  it  were,  upon  his  mind : 

"  Now  you  are  about  to  wake  up  and  I  must  leave 
you  for  a  while.  But  this  I  promise  you,  my  most 
dear,  my  beloved,  my  own,  that  before  you  fall  asleep 


ORDERS  357 

again  for  the  last  time,  you  shall  see  me  once  more, 
for  that  is  allowed  to  me.  Indeed  it  shall  be  I  who 
will  soothe  you  to  sleep  and  I  who  will  receive  you 
when  you  awake  again.  Also  in  the  space  between, 
although  you  do  not  see  me,  you  will  always  feel  me 
near,  and  I  shall  be  with  you.  So  swear  to  me  once 
more  that  you  will  not  grieve." 

Then  in  his  vision  Godfrey  swore,  and  she  appeared 
to  lean  over  him  and  whisper  words  into  his  ear  that, 
although  they  impressed  themselves  upon  his  brain 
as  the  others  had  done,  had  no  meaning  for  him, 
since  they  were  in  some  language  which  he  did  not 
understand. 

Only  he  knew  that  they  conveyed  a  blessing  to  him, 
and  not  that  of  Isobel  alone! 


CHAPTER  XXI 

LOVE  ETERNAL 

GODFREY  awoke  and  looked  about  him.  He  was  lying 
in  a  small  room  opposite  to  an  open  window  that  had 
thin  gauze  shutters  which,  as  an  old  Indian,  he  knew 
at  once  were  to  keep  out  mosquitoes.  Through  this 
window  he  could  see  the  mighty,  towering  shapes  of 
the  Pyramids,  and  reflected  that  after  all  there  must 
have  been  some  truth  in  those  wonderful  dreams.  He 
lifted  his  hand;  it  was  so  thin  that  the  strong  sunlight 
shone  through  it.  He  touched  his  head  and  felt  that 
it  was  wrapped  in  bandages,  also  that  it  seemed  be- 
numbed upon  one  side. 

A  little  dark  woman  wearing  a  nurse's  uniform, 
entered  the  room  and  he  asked  her  where  he  was,  as 
once  before  he  had  done  in  France  and  under  very 
similar  conditions.  She  stared  and  answered  with  an 
Irish  accent : 

"  Where  else  but  at  Mena  House  Hospital.  Don't 
the  Pyramids  tell  you  that  ?  " 

"  I  thought  so,"  he  replied.  "  How  long  have  I 
been  here?  " 

"  Oh !  two  months,  or  more.  I  can't  tell  you, 
Colonel,  unless  I  look 'at  the  books,  with  so  many  sick 
men  coming  and  going.  Shure !  it's  a  pleasure  to  see 
you  yourself  again.  We  thought  that  perhaps  you'd 
never  wake  up  reasonably." 

"Did  you?     I  always  knew  that  I  should." 
358 


LOVE  ETERNAL  '359 

"  And  how  did  you  know  that  ?  " 

"  Because  someone  whom  I  am  very  fond  of,  came 
and  told  me  so." 

She  glanced  at  him  sharply. 

"  Then  it's  myself  that  should  be  flattered,"  she 
answered,  "  or  the  night  nurse,  seeing  that  it  is  we 
who  have  cared  for  you  with  no  visitors  admitted 
except  the  doctors,  and  they  didn't  talk  that  way. 
Now,  Colonel,  just  you  drink  this  and  have  a  nap, 
for  you  mustn't  speak  too  much  all  at  once.  If  you 
keep  wagging  your  jaw  you'll  upset  the  bandages." 

When  he  woke  again  it  was  night  and  now  the  full 
moon,  such  a  moon  as  one  sees  in  Egypt,  shone  upon 
the  side  of  the  Great  Pyramid  and  made  it  silver.  He 
could  hear  voices  talking  outside  his  door,  one  that 
of  the  Irish  nurse  which  he  recognised,  and  the  other 
of  a  man,  for  although  they  spoke  low,  this  sense  of 
hearing  seemed  to  be  peculiarly  acute  in  him. 

"  It  is  so,  Major,"  said  the  nurse.  "  I  tell  you  that 
except  for  a  little  matter  about  someone  whom  he 
thought  had  been  visiting  him,  he  is  as  reasonable 
as  I  am,  and  much  more  than  you  are,  saving  your 
presence." 

"  Well,"  answered  the  doctor,  "  as  you  speak  the 
truth  sometimes,  Sister,  I'm  bound  to  believe  you,  but 
all  I  have  to  say  is  that  I  could  have  staked  my  pro- 
fessional reputation  that  the  poor  chap  would  never 
get  his  wits  again.  He  has  had  an  awful  blow  and 
on  the  top  of  an  old  wound  too.  After  all  these 
months,  it's  strange,  very  strange,  and  I  hope  it  will 
continue." 

"  Well,  of  course,  Major,  there  is  the  delusion  about 
the  lady." 


360  LOVE  ETERNAL 

"  Lady !  How  do  you  know  it  was  a  lady  ?  Just 
like  a  woman  making  up  a  romance  out  of  nothing. 
Yes,  there's  the  delusion,  which  is  bad.  Keep  his 
mind  off  it  as  much  as  possible,  and  tell  him  some 
of  your  own  in  your  best  brogue.  I'll  come  and 
examine  him  to-morrow  morning." 

Then  the  voices  died  away  and  Godfrey  almost 
laughed  because  they  had  talked  of  his  "  delusion," 
when  he  knew  so  well  that  it  was  none.  Isobel  had 
been  with  him.  Yes,  although  he  could  neither  hear 
nor  see  her,  Isobel  was  with  him  now  for  he  felt  her 
presence.  And  yet  how  could  this  be  if  he  was  in 
Egypt  and  she  was  in  England?  So  wondering,  he 
fell  asleep  again. 

By  degrees  as  he  gathered  strength,  Godfrey  learned 
all  the  story  of  what  had  happened  to  him,  or  rather 
so  much  of  it  as  those  in  charge  of  the  hospital  knew. 
It  appeared,  according  to  Sister  Elizabeth,  as  his  nurse 
was  named,  that  when  he  was  struck  down  in  the 
church,  "  somewhere  in  Africa  "  as  she  said  vaguely, 
the  guards  whom  he  had  with  him,  rushed  in,  firing 
on  the  native  murderers  who  fled  away  except  those 
who  were  killed. 

Believing  that,  with  the  missionary,  they  had  mur- 
dered the  King's  Officer,  a  great  man,  they  fled  fast 
and  far  into  German  East  Africa  and  were  no  more 
seen.  The  Chief,  Jaga,  who  had  escaped,  caused  him 
to  be  carried  out  of  the  burning  church  to  the  mission- 
ary's house,  and  sent  runners  to  the  nearest  magistracy 
many  miles  away,  where  there  was  a  doctor.  So  there 
he  lay  in  the  house.  A  native  servant  who  once  acted 
as  a  hospital  orderly,  had  washed  his  wounds  and 
bound  them  up.  One  of  these,  that  on  the  head,  was 


LOVE  ETERNAL  361 

caused  by  a  kerry  or  some  blunt  instrument,  and  the 
other  was  a  spear-stab  in  the  lung.  Also  from  time 
to  time  this  servant  poured  milk  down  his  throat. 

At  length  the  doctor  came  with  an  armed  escort 
and,  greatly  daring,  performed  some  operation  which 
relieved  the  pressure  on  the  brain  and  saved  his  life. 
In  that  house  he  lay  for  a  month  or  more  and  then, 
in  a  semi-comatose  condition,  was  carried  by  slow 
stages  in  a  litter  back  to  Mombasa.  Here  he  lay  an- 
other month  or  so  and  as  his  mind  showed  no  signs 
of  returning,  was  at  length  put  on  board  a  ship  and 
brought  to  Egypt. 

Meanwhile,  as  Godfrey  learned  afterwards,  he  was 
believed  to  have  been  murdered  with  the  missionary, 
and  a  report  to  that  effect  was  sent  to  England,  which, 
in  the  general  muddle  that  prevailed  at  the  beginning 
of  the  war,  had  never  been  corrected.  For  be  it  re- 
membered it  was  not  until  he  was  carried  to  Mom- 
basa, nearly  two  months  after  he  was  hurt,  that  he 
reached  any  place  where  there  was  a  telegraph.  By 
this  time  also,  those  at  Mombasa  had  plenty  of  fresh 
casualties  to  report,  and  indeed  were  not  aware,  or 
had  forgotten  what  exact  story  had  been  sent  home 
concerning  Godfrey  who  could  not  speak  for  himself. 
So  it  came  about  through  a  series  of  mischances,  that 
at  home  he  was  believed  to  be  dead  as  happened  to 
many  other  men  in  the  course  of  the  great  war. 

After  he  came  to  himself  at  the  Mena  House  Hos- 
pital, Godfrey  inquired  whether  there  were  not  some 
letters  for  him,  but  none  could  be  found.  He  had 
arranged  with  the  only  person  likely  to  write  to  him, 
namely  Isobel,  to  do  so  through  the  War  Office,  and 


362  LOVE  ETERNAL 

evidently  that  plan  had  not  succeeded,  for  her  letters 
had  gone  astray.  The  truth  was,  of  course,  that  some 
had  been  lost  and  after  definite  news  of  his  death  was 
received,  the  rest  had  not  been  forwarded.  Now  he 
bethought  him  that  he  would  cable  home  to  Isobel  to 
tell  her  that  he  was  recovering,  though  somehow  he 
imagined  that  she  would  know  this  already  through 
the  authorities.  With  great  difficulty,  for  the  hurt 
to  his  side  made  it  hard  for  him  to  use  his  arm,  he 
wrote  the  telegram  and  gave  it  to  Sister  Elizabeth  to 
send,  remarking  that  he  would  pay  the  cost  as  soon 
as  he  could  draw  some  money. 

"  That  won't  matter,"  she  replied  as  she  took  the 
cable.  Then  with  an  odd  look  at  him  she  went  away 
as  though  to  arrange  for  its  despatch. 

After  she  had  gone,  two  orderlies  helped  Godfrey 
downstairs  to  sit  on  the  broad  verandah  of  the  hos- 
pital. Here  still  stood  many  of  the  little  tables  which 
used  to  serve  for  pleasant  tea-parties  when  the  build- 
ing was  an  hotel  in  the  days  before  the  war.  On 
these  lay  some  old  English  newspapers.  Godfrey 
picked  one  of  them  up  with  his  left  hand  and  began 
to  read  idly  enough.  Almost  the  first  paragraph  that 
his  eye  fell  on  was  headed: 

"  Heroic  Death  of  a  V.A.D.  Commandant." 

Something  made  him  read  on  quickly,  and  this  was 
what  he  saw: 

"  At  the  inquest  on  the  late  Mrs.  Knight,  the  wife  of 
Colonel  Knight  who  was  reported  murdered  by  natives  in 
East  Africa  some  little  time  ago,  some  interesting  evi- 
dence was  given.  It  appeared  from  the  testimony  of 
Mrs.  Parsons,  a  nurse  in  the  Hawk's  Hall  Hospital,  that 
when  warning  was  given  of  the  approach  of  Zeppelins 


LOVE  ETERNAL  363 

during  last  week's  raid  on  the  Eastern  Counties  and 
London,  the  patients  in  the  upper  rooms  of  the  hospital 
were  removed  to  its  lower  floors.  Finding  that  one  young 
man,  a  private  in  the  Suffolk  Regiment  who  has  lost 
both  his  feet,  had  been  overlooked,  Mrs.  Knight,  followed 
by  Mrs.  Parsons,  went  upstairs  to  help  him  down.  When 
Mrs.  Parsons,  whom  she  outran,  reached  the  door  of  the 
ward  there  was  a  great  explosion,  apparently  on  the  roof. 
She  waited  till  the  dust  had  cleared  off  and  groped  her 
way  down  the  ward  with  the  help  of  an  electric  torch. 
Reaching  Private  Thompson's  bed,  she  saw  lying  on  it 
Mrs.  Knight  who  had  been  killed  by  the  fallen  masonry. 
Private  Thompson,  who  was  unhurt  beneath  the  body, 
said  that  when  the  bricks  began  to  come  down  Mrs. 
Knight  called  to  him  to  lie  still  and  threw  herself  on 
him  to  protect  him.  Then  something  heavy,  he  believed 
the  stone  coping  of  a  chimney,  fell  on  her  back  and  she 
uttered  one  word,  he  thought  it  was  a  name,  and  was 
silent.  Mrs.  Knight,  who  was  the  only  child  of  the  late 
Sir  John  Blake,  Bart.,  the  well-known  shipowner,  is  said 
to  have  been  one  of  the  richest  women  in  England.  She 
married  the  late  Colonel  Knight  some  months  ago,  imme- 
diately before  he  was  sent  to  East  Africa.  Under  the 
provisions  of  her  will  the  cremated  remains  of  Mrs. 
Knight  will  be  interred  in  the  chancel  of  the  Abbey 
Church  at  Monk's  Acre." 

Godfrey  read  this  awful  paragraph  twice  and 
looked  at  the  date  of  the  paper.  It  was  nearly  two 
months  old. 

"  So  she  was  dead  when  she  came  to  me.  Oh ! 
now  I  understand,"  he  muttered  to  himself,  and  then, 
had  not  a  passing  native  servant  caught  him,  he  would 
have  fallen  to  the  ground.  It  was  one  of  the  ten 
thousand  minor  tragedies  of  the  world  war,  that  is  all. 


364  LOVE  ETERNAL 

Three  months  later,  still  very  crippled  and  coughing 
badly,  because  of  the  injury  to  his  lung,  he  reported 
himself  in  London,  and  once  more  saw  the  Under- 
secretary who  had  sent  him  out  to  East  Africa. 
There  he  sat  in  the  same  room,  at  the  same  desk, 
looking  precisely  the  same. 

"  I  am  sorry,  Sir,  that  my  mission  has  failed 
through  circumstances  beyond  my  control.  I  can  only 
add  that  I  did  my  best,"  he  said  briefly. 

"  I  know,"  answered  the  official ;  "  it  was  no  fault 
of  yours  if  those  black  brutes  tried  to  murder  you. 
Everything  goes  wrong  in  that  cursed  East  Africa. 
Now  go  home  and  get  yourself  fit  again,  my  dear 
fellow,"  he  went  on  very  kindly,  adding,  "  Your  serv- 
ices will  not  be  overlooked." 

"  I  have  no  home,  and  I  shall  never  be  fit  again," 
replied  Godfrey,  and  left  the  room. 

"I  forgot,"  thought  the  Under-Secretary.  "His 
wife  was  killed  in  a  Zeppelin  raid.  Odd  that  she 
should  have  been  taken  and  he  left." 

Then,  with  a  sigh  and  a  shrug  of  the  shoulders 
he  turned  to  his  business. 

Godfrey  went  to  the  little  house  at  Hampstead 
where  he  used  to  live  while  he  was  studying  as  a  lad, 
for  here  Mrs.  Parsons  was  waiting  for  him.  Then 
for  the  first  time  he  gave  way  and  they  wept  in  each 
other's  arms. 

"  We  were  too  happy,  Nurse,"  he  said. 

"  Yes,"  she  answered,  "  love  like  hers  wasn't  for 
this  world,  and  more  than  once  she  said  to  me  that 
she  never  expected  to  see  you  again  in  the  flesh, 
though  I  thought  she  meant  it  was  you  who  would 


LOVE  ETERNAL  365 

go,  as  might  have  been  expected.  Stop,  I  have  some- 
thing for  you." 

Going  to  a  desk  she  produced  from  it  a  ring,  that 
with  the  turquoise  hearts;  also  a  canvas-covered 
book. 

"  That's  her  diary,"  she  said,  "  she  used  to  write 
in  it  every  day." 

That  night  Godfrey  read  many  beautiful  and  sacred 
things  in  this  diary.  From  it  he  learned  that  the 
shock  of  his  supposed  death  had  caused  Isobel  to  mis- 
carry and  made  her  ill  for  some  time,  though  under- 
neath the  entries  about  her  illness  and  the  false  news 
of  his  death  she  had  written : 

"  He  is  not  dead.    I  know  that  he  is  not  dead." 

Afterwards  there  were  some  curious  sentences  in 
which  she  spoke  joyfully  of  having  seen  him  in  her 
sleep,  ill,  but  living  and  going  to  recover,  "  at  any  rate 
for  a  while,"  she  had  added. 

On  the  very  day  of  her  death  she  had  made  this 
curious  note: 

"  I  feel  as  though  Godfrey  and  I  were  about  to  be 
separated  for  a  while,  and  yet  that  this  separation 
will  really  bring  us  closer  together.  I  am  strangely 
happy.  Great  vistas  seem  to  open  to  my  soul  and 
down  them  I  walk  with  Godfrey  for  ever  and  a  day, 
and  over  them  broods  the  Love  of  God  in  which  are 
embodied  and  expressed  all  other  loves.  Oh!  how 
wrong  and  foolish  was  I,  who  for  so  many  years 
rejected  that  Love,  which  yet  will  not  be  turned  away 
and  in  mercy  gave  me  sight  and  wisdom  and  with 
these  Godfrey,  from  whose  soul  my  soul  can  never 
more  be  parted.  For  as  I  told  you,  my  darling,  ours 
is  the  Love  Eternal.  Remember  it  always,  Godfrey, 


366  LOVE  ETERNAL 

if  ever  your  eyes  should  see  these  words  upon  the 
earth.    Afterwards  there  will  be  no  need  for  memory." 

So  the  diary  ended. 

They  invalided  Godfrey  out  of  the  service  and  be- 
cause of  his  lung  trouble,  he  went  to  the  house  that 
Miss  Ogilvy  had  left  him  in  Lucerne,  taking  Mrs. 
Parsons  with  him.  There  too  he  found  the  Pasteur, 
grown  an  old  man  but  otherwise  much  the  same  as 
ever,  and  him  also  he  brought  to  live  in  the  Villa 
Ogilvy. 

The  winter  went  on  and  Godfrey  grew,  not  better, 
but  worse,  till  at  last  he  knew  that  he  was  dying,  and 
rejoiced  to  die.  One  evening  a  letter  was  brought 
to  him.  It  was  from  Madame  Riennes,  written  in 
a  shaky  hand,  and  ran  thus : 

"  I  am  going  to  pass  to  the  World  of  Speerits,  and  so 
are  you,  my  Godfrey,  for  I  know  all  about  you  and 
everything  that  has  happened.  The  plum  is  eaten,  but 
the  stone — ah!  it  is  growing  already,  and  soon  you  will 
be  sitting  with  another  under  that  beautiful  Tree  of 
Life  of  which  I  told  you  in  the  English  church.  And  I, 
where  shall  I  be  sitting?  Ah!  I  do  not  know,  but  there 
is  this  difference  between  us  that  whereas  I  am  afraid, 
you  have  no  cause  for  fear.  You,  you  rejoice,  yes,  and 
shall  rejoice — for  though  sometimes  I  hate  you  I  must 
tell  it.  Yet  I  am  sorry  if  I  nave  harmed  you,  and  should 
you  be  able,  I  pray  you,  say  a  good  word  in  the  World 
of  Speerits  for  your  sinful  old  godmamma  Riennes.  So 
fare  you  well,  who  thinking  that  you  have  lost,  have 
gained  all.  It  is  I,  I  who  have  lost.  Again  farewell, 
and  bid  that  old  Pasteur  to  pray  for  me,  which  he,  who 


LOVE  ETERNAL  367 

is  good,  will  do,  although  I  was  his  enemy  and  cursed 
him." 

"  See  that  she  lacks  for  nothing  till  the  end,  and 
comfort  her  if  you  can,"  said  Godfrey  to  the  Pasteur. 

That  night  a  shape  of  glory  seemed  to  stand  by 
Godfrey's  bed  and  to  whisper  wonderful  things  into 
his  ears.  He  saw  it,  ah,  clearly,  and  knew  that  in- 
forming its  changeful  loveliness  was  all  which  had 
been  Isobel  upon  the  earth. 

"  Fear  nothing,"  he  thought  it  said,  "  for  I  am  with 
you  and  others  greater  than  I.  Know,  Godfrey,  that 
everything  has  a  meaning  and  that  all  joy  must  be 
won  through  pain.  Our  lives  seem  to  have  been  short 
and  sad,  but  these  are  not  the  real  life,  they  are  but 
its  black  and  ugly  door,  whereof  the  threshold  must 
be  watered  with  our  tears  and  the  locks  turned  by 
the  winds  of  Faith  and  Prayer.  Do  not  be  afraid 
then  of  the  blackness  of  the  passage,  for  beyond  it 
shines  the  immortal  light  in  that  land  where  there 
is  understanding  and  all  forgiveness.  Therefore  be 
glad,  Godfrey,  for  the  night  of  sorrows  is  at  an  end 
and  the  dawn  breaks  of  peace  that  passes  under- 
standing." 

Godfrey  woke  and  spoke  to  the  old  Pasteur  who 
was  watching  by  his  bed  while  Mrs.  Parsons  wept 
at  its  foot. 

"  Did  you  see  anything?  "  he  asked. 

"  No,  my  son,"  he  answered,  "  but  I  felt  something. 
It  was  as  though  an  angel  stood  at  my  side." 

Then  Godfrey  told  him  all  his  vision,  and  much 


368  LOVE  ETERNAL 

else  besides,  of  which  before  he  had  never  spoken 
to  living  man. 

"  It  well  may  be,  my  son,"  answered  the  Pasteur, 
"  since  to  those  who  have  suffered  greatly,  the  good 
God  gives  the  great  reward.  He  Who  endured  pain 
can  understand  our  pains,  and  He  Who  redeemed  sin 
can  understand  and  be  gentle  to  our  sins,  for  His  is 
the  true  Love  Eternal.  So  go  forward  with  faith 
and  gladness,  and  in  the  joy  of  that  new  world  and 
of  the  lost  which  is  found  again,  think  sometimes  of 
the  old  Pasteur  who  hopes  soon  to  join  you  there." 

Then  he  shrove  and  blessed  him. 

After  this  Godfrey  slept  awhile  to  wake  elsewhere 
in  the  Land  of  that  Love  Eternal  which  the  soul  of 
Isobel  foreknew. 


THE  ALLAN  QUATERMAIN  ROMANCES 

FINISHED 

By  SIR  H.  RIDER  HAGGARD.     With  colored  frontiipiece  and 

dust  wrapper.     Crown  8vo.     $1.40  net. 

This  book  forms  the  third  of  the  trilogy  of  which  "  Marie " 
and  "  Child  of  Storm  "  are  the  first  two  parts.  It  narrates,  through 
the  mouth  of  Allan  Quatermain,  the  consummation  of  the  venge- 
ance of  the  wizard  Zikali  upon  the  royal  Zulu  house  of  which 
Senzangacona  was  the  founder  and  Cetewayo  the  last  representa- 
tive who  ruled  as  king. 

MARIE 

By  SIR  H.  RIDER  HAGGARD.    With  colored  frontiipiece  and 

other  illustrations.     Crown  8vo.     $1.35  net. 

The  story  of  Allan  Quatermain's  first  love,  Marie  Marais — 
"Throughout  the  book  runs  a  tender,  beautiful  and  moving  love 
story.  .  .  .  Marie  is  Quatermain's  wife  only  a  little  while,  and 
then  she  makes  the  great  sacrifice.  .  .  .  The  time  is  far  back, 
when  the  Boers  began  the  great  trek  from  Cape  Colony,  and  the 
author  says  that  in  main  all  the  historical  parts  of  his  story  are 
true." — New  York  Times. 

"  We  are  disposed  to  regard  '  Marie '  as  one  of  the  most 
exciting  and  interesting  of  all  that  cycle  of  romances  which  are 
concerned  with  that  mighty  hunter,  Allan  Quatermain."— Spectator. 

CHILD  OF  STORM 

By  SIR  H.  RIDER  HAGGARD.    With  colored  frontispiece  and 

other  illustrations.     Crown  8vo.     $1.35  net. 

"  An  unusual  story  of  the  Zulus  in  all  their  superstitious  mad- 
ness and  blood-stained  grandeur;  of  the  time  of  the  Impis  and 
the  witch-finders  and  the  rival  princes  of  the  Royal  House.  The 
story  of  the  fascinating  and  wicked  Mameena  is  here  told  by 
Allan  Quatermain  and  is  the  second  of  the  three  romances  referred 
to  in  the  Editor's  notes  to  Sir  Rider  Haggard's  lately  published 
'  Marie.' " 

"  Now  that  the  Zulus  are  no  longer  a  reigning  nation  and  are 
doomed  to  go  the  way  of  all  savage  tribes,  the  trilogy  of  which 
'  Child  of  Storm '  is  a  part,  ought  to  have  an  enduring  value  aside 
from  its  extraordinary  romantic  interest." — Minneapolis  Journal. 

LONGMANS,  GREEN  &  CO.  NEW  YORK 


THE  ALLAN  QUATERMAIN   ROMANCES 

KING  SOLOMON'S  MINES 

By  SIR  H.  RIDER  HAGGARD.     Crown  8 vo.    $1.25  net. 

A  romance  that  fairly  bristles  with  excitement  from  beginning 
to  end.  The  story  of  the  quest  of  King  Solomon's  Ophir,  full  of 
sensational  fights,  blood-curdling  perils  and  extraordinary  escapes. 

THE  IVORY  CHILD 

By  SIR  H.  RIDER  HAGGARD.    With  illustrations.    Crown  8vo. 

$1.35  net. 

"...  it  is  enough  to  say  that  when  Allan  Quatermain,  in 
the  opening  sentence,  of  his  narrative,  speaks  of  this  as  '  one  of 
the  strangest  of  all  the  adventures  which  have  befallen  me  in  the 
course  of  a  life,  that  so  far  can  scarcely  be  called  tame  or  hum- 
drum,' he  is  well  within  the  mark  .  .  .  handled  in  Sir  Rider 
Haggard's  best  manner." — The  Spectator — London. 

ALLAN  QUATERMAIN 

By  SIR  H.  RIDER  HAGGARD.     With  20  illustrations  and  a 

portrait.     Crown  8vo.    $1.25  net. 

"  Haggard  has  created  one  of  the  outstanding  characters  of 
contemporary  fiction,  Allan  Quatermain." — New  York  World. 

ALLAN'S  WIFE,  and  Other  Tales 

By  SIR  H.  RIDER  HAGGARD.    With  34  illustrations.     Crown 
8vo.     $1.25  net. 

ALLAN  AND  THE  HOLY  FLOWER 

By  SIR  H.  RIDER  HAGGARD.     With  12  illustrations.     Crown 

8vo.     $1.35  net. 

This  highly  imaginative  story  has  to  do  with  Allan's  search,  in 
company  with  an  American  physician,  for  a  unique  flower  of  mar- 
velous beauty  and  priceless  value,  presided  over  in  the  wilds  of 
South  Africa  by  a  "  white  goddess  "  and  guarded  by  a  monstrous 
ape  revered  by  the  natives  as  a  god.  In  the  tale  of  the  search, 
Sir  Rider  Haggard  finds  abundant  opportunity  for  those  touches 
of  mystery  and  incidents  of  breathless  adventure  that  have  made 
his  "  Allan  Quatermain "  series  so  popular  with  two  generations. 

"  The  series  of  romances  about  Allan  Quatermain  .  .  .  will 
some  day  be  read  even  as  the  great  series  by  Dumas  is  read.  .  .  ." 
— Cleveland  Plain  Dealer. 

LONGMANS,  GREEN  &  CO.  NEW  YORK 


DATE  DUE 


JAN  4 


tBtt 

:  19716 


PRINTED  IN  U.S.A. 


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